Taking the Field – Update

Jeff Maltbie, our City Manager, informed me today that the District’s proposed land swap (which I discussed at length here) will not be on the agenda for the March 24, 2014 Council meeting.

At the start of the meeting I will make a request to put the item on the agenda for the April 14th meeting. There is no guarantee the request will be granted, as it takes at least two Council members to put something on the agenda.

So if, like me, you want to see the Council address the proposed swap in open session, please attend the March 24th meeting and speak out in favor of the Council addressing the item at the April 14th meeting.

To address the Council in person, simply fill out a speaker card and turn it in at the staff table just inside the main doors. Each speaker gets about two minutes to make their pitch, so please plan accordingly.

These kinds of requests are handled at the beginning of a Council meeting, so please try to be on time. The meeting starts at 7 PM.

If you can’t make the meeting, please at least contact the Council members and share your views. You can find their email and phone numbers here.

Based on what Jeff told me, I am currently the only Council member who wants to put this matter before the public. Whether you support or oppose the swap, I hope you agree this type of transaction needs to be discussed publicly. Please make your voice heard so that can happen!

3 thoughts on “Taking the Field – Update”

  1. Sally Decker

    I whole heartedly support the idea of the land swap for the SCCLC to relocate to Crestview Drive and allow for more space at the Tl campus for the 4/5 school and playing fields. Great idea!

  2. I have been a resident of San Carlos for almost 20 years and lived in the Crestview neighborhood that entire time. The San Carlos Hills are known for the tranquility of nature, open spaces and wildlife. This school would not service this neighborhood in any way. This is a densely populated area where there are very few children. Additionally, while the CLC services some San Carlos residents, there is no guarantee that any child living in the immediate vicinity would be enrolled due to the Charter lottery enrollment process. Therefore, all 400 families would be driving up the roadways impacting an area that already has traffic issues. You can find police officers each day monitoring Crestview, Club and Melendy Drives. There are many who already use this corridor as a cut-through from 280 to Belmont and lower San Carlos. There will be more traffic, trash, and noise.
    As for fields, if you read the articles in depth, utilizing the land behind TL will require the City to procure a home along Dartmouth Drive for demolition in order to provide better access. Not sure how well that will sit with the residents of that area. The artificial turf fields are not utilized as was originally described. During the warm season you can see people/teams on these fields, but not 24/7, 365 as was described by the proponents of the turf. Rain or shine – I think not. Multiple baseball games can be played simultaneously at Burton Park, but that is never done. We have the lights at Burton Park, let’s extend the usage of that field. Artificial turf can be implemented there.
    If there is congestion and traffic issues at our schools, perhaps it is time that the SCSD look into school buses. They attempted a “pilot program” but it still required parents to drive children to a center location to get the bus. I would have to take my child to Heather School in the morning only to have the bus pass my home to go down Club. That doesn’t make much sense. Building a new school requires a large parcel of land, why not consider building UP. Has the SCSD evaluated the option of building additional levels on the existing footprints? Additionally, the current facility plan is approved, yet under financed. Where is the money to build this new school going to come from – another Parcel tax?
    If the city believes in their motto – ‘San Carlos The City of Good Living’ let’s ensure that we preserve some of nature within our town borders. If we continue to convert our open spaces there will be nothing quaint remaining in San Carlos.
    Please save our neighborhood.

  3. Katie Stamos

    Dear Mayor Olbert,

    Thank you for bringing this issue up for public discussion. We wish to express our strong support for the proposed land swap between the City and the San Carlos School District. Although it may not please everyone, we believe this is where real leadership comes into play, and we’re thankful that the City Council is empowered to also weigh the considerable long-term public interest in our land use, and consider the broad picture of benefits to our citizens that such a land swap would bring.

    Our children attend Arundel, and one of our volunteer roles is to open car doors in the traffic circle two mornings per week. We walk from our house on Wellington Drive across campus to serve the long line of vehicles lining up for dropoff at the office circle. We see cars parked for blocks surrounding the school, about 1 in 3 drivers not even pretending to stop at the Wellington and Clifton crosswalk, and the drivers at the traffic circle arriving harried and stressed, having navigated carefully along our congested streets, which turn into de facto one-way streets in the mornings – with kids trying to walk to school in the middle of all of this! While we’re sure you hear more than your share of complaints about San Carlos traffic and we’re very thankful that many steps have been taken to mitigate these, we can attest that the traffic situation at Arundel is already at its capacity with regard to our student’s safety. Housing another school campus at our site would be enormously detrimental in this respect alone, and we would truly fear for our community’s safety if 450 students were added to the morning mix – or if the situation is allowed to remain at the status quo and more students are simply added each year until we are bursting at the seams.

    The direct impacts of creating more fields for our citizens and a more suitable educational configuration for our city’s students have great long-term value. We strongly support your efforts.

    Alex and Katie Stamos

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