Item 6B (2)Carroll Senior High School Proposed Parking and Driveway Issues(Ordinance No 480338C ZA007 CSHS)
Carroll Senior High School Proposed Parking and Driveway Issues
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Objective
Explain why driveway is detrimental to values of homes in the area
Raise awareness to agreements reached in the past between CISD and homeowners
Discuss alternatives that will maintain or improve values of local property owners
Index
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Immediate Impact
24’ roadway + 11’ tennis court bench + bench/roadway gap will leave less than 25’ between roadway and homeowner property line
All trees in the current proposal will be cut down leaving no visual screen
Base of fence is 4’ below current grade so cars will be seen above fence
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Impact Cont.
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Impact Cont.
Drip lines of trees to be saved are 30’ (9” Live Oak) and 40’ (27” Post Oak) from the proposed roadway. With either a 15’ walkway (sidewalk and buffer) or a 15’ radius turn, the roadway
will extend to the drip line or well under the drip line of the current trees. The construction activities of the roadway will likely extend well over the root zone of these trees
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Impact Cont.
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Home Valuation Loss Estimate
Homes near school are more difficult to sell with past experience showing that closings are more successful when school is not in session
Homes backing up to roadways in the same neighborhood are appraised and sold at 10-15% discount over same size home on interior of subdivision
General objective of a community is to maintain or improve conditions of the community and individuals
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Tree Buffer Loss
During the bond implementation in 2000/1 that brought the Dragon Dome, Softball field etc, a number of trees were removed in the back forest of CSHS to provide space for new facilities.
Homeowners and the City Landscape department worked with the CISD to ensure these trees were replaced and positioned to provide buffers between homes and the schools
For the Senior HS and other schools, this included an expansion of the required 20’ buffer to include buffer widths up to 50-70’ containing 2-3 rows of trees that were staggered to screen
views and muffle noises
In certain areas with nearby structures like baseball fences and tennis courts, evergreen trees were specified to ensure complete screening. (the CISD has since trimmed the lower branches
of the evergreens thus reducing the screening capability of these trees)
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Tree Buffer Cont.
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Tree Buffer LossSummary
The CISD is acting in bad faith to this agreement by proposing to remove the trees in the buffer and replacing them with a roadway
Is this action conducive with the city’s objective to Maintain and enhance Southlake’s identity as a “Tree City USA” – a recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation? (as declared in Southlake’s
own Tree Preservation Ordinance & Tree Technical Manual)
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Other Past Agreements
Many of the trees in the buffer have died due to poor maintenance (lack of watering) or have been removed for construction and not replaced
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Other Past Agreements Cont
Fences:
City planning documents from the original construction of the Senior HS made it clear to the ISD that they were to be responsible for fences around the property. When asked to repair
fences that have failed, the ISD has repeatedly indicated that there is no budget for such maintenance
Lately, the ISD has stated that since the fences are not on school property, then they will not be able to maintain them and must build new fences whenever money does become available
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
Noise
During the “lights on the ball field” discussions, homeowners raised issues with the late night batting practice and other off hours noises. The school indicated that this should not
be happening and that they would take care of it
The ISD has continued to act in Bad Faith by not limiting the batting practice and other activities that occur late into the evening
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
Detention Pond Maintenance
The bond for field improvements created a detention pond to control the flooding of the downstream creeks. The ISD and its engineers showed that this was to be a dry area that would
only fill during high volume rains.
A lack of maintenance has resulted in a “silted-in” detention pond that retains stagnant water contributing to conditions ideal for mosquito populations
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
Creek Bed Overflow
Creek along the eastern edge of the school property provides drainage from areas north of the property.
The school has neglected to maintain the creek bed allowing the center of the creek to fill in with cattails and young undergrowth which has caused widening of the creek during rains
and slowing of the creek during droughts
Result has been flooded backyards and conditions ideal for mosquitoes
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
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Other Past Agreements Cont.
Current Construction is already impacting trees
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Other Past AgreementsSummary
CISD is acting in bad faith by not meeting the conditions of the agreements made in the past
This may be due to budget problems or low priorities for the activities that would maintain or enhance community values
This is indicative of a behavior where they cannot be trusted to provide services that are secondary to teaching students. As such, we cannot trust them to limit traffic on the roadway
or to maintain the buffers needed to limit visual or audio impairment
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Noise
The City of Southlake has ordinances that limit noise to 60dBA in residential areas - equivalent to normal conversation
Automobiles in idle and original stock configurations meet the noise level
Automobiles that have modified exhaust (teenage owner/drivers) or stereo’s volume turned up can easily reach 100dBA
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Safety
Students accessing the school grounds via gates in homeowners fences will now face crossing the roadway that is not monitored and is likely to be heavily shaded (assuming the school
is able to maintain or increase tree cover In the area)
The roadway requires a tight 90 turn around the tennis court in order to maintain distance from mitigated trees. This corner is a blind spot. The City of Southlake routinely declines
permits to build fences on street corners where visibility would be limited for automobiles
Roadway would not reduce traffic where students are walking to the Natatorium, baseball, softball or Cross Country practices. Students walking home eastbound on 1709 would also not
experience any reduction of traffic
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Safety Cont.
Tennis players at the JV and V level do miss shots that go over the fence. The location of a roadway near the eastern fence will introduce the added risk of student drivers having to
react to tennis balls dropping in.
The added bleachers on the east side will require sidewalks to access them. This added pedestrian traffic with the roadway in the shaded area in the afternoon is not a safe condition
Parents and students will likely continue to stand or sit at the fence to cheer players on the interior of the courts. The added automobile traffic will make this a unsafe condition.
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SafetySummary
CISD has indicated that the roadway will improve safety for students and pedestrians
We believe the unmonitored/hidden roadway and activities associated with tennis will raise the risk of accidents
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Parking Space - Volume
The current proposal does not address the need for additional parking
The expansion of the weight room/gym in the center of the property as well as the addition of tennis locker rooms have caused a loss of a large number of parking spaces
The proposed parking lot would only replace the lost spaces
Where is CISD planning to put additional spaces?
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Parking Space - Alternative
CISD needs additional spaces or alternative approach to high volumes of cars being brought to school
The NW corner of the property remains undeveloped
Open property across Peytonville and 1709 could be obtained and developed
Double deck parking
Encouragement of fuel saving alternatives like carpooling or busing
Lottery
Increased parking fees.
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Parking SpaceSummary
CISD has not provided a long term plan for how additional parking will be added.
Homeowners are worried that if this roadway is permitted, then the school will have precedence to remove the rest of the trees in the buffer zone and replace this area with pavement
for parking and driving
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Traffic Patterns
CISD has indicated they have problems with traffic flow in the morning and especially in the afternoon
They suggest that the roadway will ease traffic flow
This proposed roadway is only a replacement for the passageway that will be closed when the maintenance yard is enclosed
They have not provided any alternatives that might improve the traffic flow issues
The current proposal will only continue the existing problems that they have
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Traffic Pattern Cont
CISD claims that this roadway will improve loading in the morning
The State DOT has closed the left turn westbound 1709 by installing a median.
Allowing for loading of the parking lots from the 1709 side will encourage U turns at Peytonville. Besides being inherently dangerous, this will also slow the left turns being made
onto Peytonville and thus increasing the likelihood of students’ automobiles being positioned in the left drive lane of 1709 while waiting for the left turn.
If the state introduces no U turn at 1709/Peytonville, then the traffic volume entering the 1709 entrances will be significantly reduced negating the need for a morning load
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Traffic Flow – An Alternative
CISD has not shown how this will improve traffic flow as compared to the current flow. One alternative:
Lane configurations could be made on the west side of the school and in conjunction with the city to allow for directed flow. i.e.
Southern entrance with left lane directed south and right lane directed north so that it will continue north past 1709 or turn left on 1709
Northern entrance configured to turn into right turn lane to turn east on 1709
Internal parking lot would be configure to send traffic to either entrance or directed around the north side of the school to depart east from the 1709 exit (that is already marked as
exit only).
Adding officer to manage 1709/Peytonville intersection in the afternoon
Student pickup to be handled in parking lot on NE side of school
This would provide two lanes of traffic to homes east of the school. One lane to homes off of continental and one lane to homes NW of school
This would remove all traffic from around the backside of school and direct most it quickly onto main roads and away from the high pedestrian areas of the school (like practices )
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Process Issues
Planning documents from 2000/1 show there were no plans to build a roadway in the proposed area
Bond planning in 2009 did not provide details (i.e. drawings) on the roadway proposal
Plat/Variance documents presented to P&Z 8 months ago were the first time homeowners were made aware of the proposal
P&Z at that time recommended against the roadway.
Since then, CISD approached two Stone Lakes homeowners to explain their approach to loading/unloading.
One homeowner indicated they were moving and did not care
Other homeowner approved
CISD did NOT approach any other homeowners
CISD resubmitted request last month
P&Z again recommended against the roadway
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Process Issues Summary
The approach taken by the CISD to get driveway resubmitted is indicative of their bad faith in seeking agreements and adhering to these agreements
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Planning Summary
The CISD plans from 2000 show their intention to use the NW corner for parking as well as the area between the Tennis Courts and Baseball field. It did not show any roadway to be built.
The CISD’s positioning of a water cooling tower near the tennis courts has negatively impacted the games played on the nearby tennis courts as players are unable to hear each other or
the sound of the ball when hit by the racket. The school should be seeking to reduce noise – not add noise via roadways, parking and future water towers in the areas being utilized by
athletes
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Who pays for Lack of Planning
Every few years, we are faced with growth or development that the CISD did not predict
Often, this unplanned growth has the CISD proposing solutions that are contrary to pre-existing agreements or will negatively impact homeowner values. Many times, their proposals can
best be described as shoehorn solutions – without thought to long range implications.
Why is it that the homeowners around these schools are continuously asked to sacrifice so the CISD can address their lack of planning or adherence to plans?
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