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Planning & Design Meetings Neighborhood Meeting #1 2/3/2009 - MinutesPalo Alto HS MP COMMUNITY MEETING No. 1 Palo Alto Unified School District 03 February 2009 P.1 DRAFT | DRAFT | DRAFT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN Palo Alto Unified School District MASTER PLAN COMMUNITY MEETING NO. 1 DATE: 03 February 2009, 6:30 pm –9:00 pm SUBJECT: Master Plan Meeting with Public Audience ATTENDEES: See attached sign-in sheet The following are the highlights of the meeting: 1. Principal Jacqueline McEvoy discussed the makeup of the Facilities Steering Committee and reiterated that the proposed buildings shown in the site plan diagrams are not the actual designs – they are suggestions of buildings. 2. Architect Erwin Lee introduced himself and gave a brief history of Deems Lewis McKinley Architecture. He spoke to the extensive experience that the firm has with designing public schools. 3. Lee described what has happened in the master planning process so far: • Reviewed existing documents • Had a series of site walks, diagramming bike and pedestrian flow • Had six meetings with the Facilities Steering Committee • Created a series of site plans that reflect the needs of Palo Alto High School • Met with traffic and safety group to discuss the impact of the student growth 4. The four key elements to the master planning process were outlined: • Educational program needs • Growth structure – how to house the growing number of students • Infrastructure and maintenance needs • Enhancements and upgrades to the existing site 5. Lee highlighted the master planning goals of Palo Alto High School. These goals are: • Replace all of the existing portable classroom buildings • Demolish the current career tech building and replace it with a new, 2-story building with 2-story high-bay shops on the first level and flexible classrooms on the upper level • Demolish the current student center and build a new, 2-story student center with a double-story volume that attaches to the Tower building, providing vertical circulation and additional classrooms/services • Build a new, 2-story Media Arts building with flexible spaces adjacent to the English classroom building on the northeast quarter of campus. Palo Alto HS MP COMMUNITY MEETING No. 1 Palo Alto Unified School District 03 February 2009 P.2 • Build a new, prominent theater with performing arts complex adjacent to the Haymarket Theater to enhance the performing arts programs • Take all classroom functions out of the Tower building and replace with offices and support programs. • Build a new, 2-story classroom complex adjacent to world languages (400) and math (700) building with flexible space for the social sciences and math classrooms that open to a central space. Lee explained that the need to have the new classrooms in close proximity with a shared central space differs from the original goal of having the classroom clusters spread out for cross ventilation and maximizing daylight. • Demolish the existing “Girl’s” Gym and build a new gym with an infill building connecting the new gym and the existing “Boy’s” gym together. The connector building would house the weight room, fitness center and exercise room. It would also provide a lobby to the new athletic complex. • Create bike paths that will encourage their use and protect cyclists from vehicles • Strategically locate bike racks along bike paths, so that bike supervision from the quad is optimized • Create a raised plaza area that wraps around the new, 2-story student center • Make the quad a place for formal and informal group meeting spaces and introduce more landscape elements 6. A site plan was shown that compared two theater options (A and B). Option A proposes to replace the Art Building by building a new Theater/Arts Complex that would incorporate both programs. Option B is similar to the original proposal, but preserves and adds to the existing Art Building. Option B was preferred because it incorporates the footprint of the existing 100 building, and creates a complimentary entry to the Haymarket Theater. 7. Mr. Lee stated that what is shown on the presentation drawings is diagram of an idea, and that the actual design and configuration of the proposed buildings will occur during later phases of the project. 8. Lee discussed the next steps in the master planning process. The following items must be addressed in the three remaining Facilities Steering Committee Meetings: • Discussions about budget issues • Prioritizing needs and phasing construction of proposed buildings • Implementation and scheduling of project construction • Determining infrastructure and maintenance needs • Finalizing documents to bring to the School Board by the end of March 2009 9. The meeting was opened for public comment. The highlights of the comments and questions from the public audience were: • What is the number of parking spots required for the projected number of students that there will be? o Lee explained that the goal is to reconfigure the existing parking to make it more efficient, and that the master planning of the campus is working under the guidelines of the parking-spaces-to-classroom ratio. • Will the District Yard stay? o Mr. Tom Hodges explained that the District yard (corpyard) is not a good place for classrooms due to its proximity to the central plant and railroad. Palo Alto HS MP COMMUNITY MEETING No. 1 Palo Alto Unified School District 03 February 2009 P.3 The District has considered other options; the best option is to locate hard courts in its place, or expand the football field in a later phase. • Has a decision been made about which theater option to proceed with? o A theater sub-committee has been formed to decide on the outcome of the theater placement, but theater option B is preferred. • Will the trees be dictating where the theater is placed? o Hodges explained that architect Lee’s schemes will help us keep far from cherished trees, and that once the master planning phase is through, the landscape will be fully studied. • Where is the new entrance going to be at Embarcadero when Trader Joes moves in? o What is currently shown on the site plans is the entrance configuration that will stay • Is the north entrance at Embarcadero the only entrance that will be altered? What about the intersection at Alma and Churchill? o The north entrance to the school will be the only entrance altered. The bike paths and configuration at the Churchill entrance will be looked at for improvement, but the Alma/Churchill intersection is not in our scope. • It is uncertain at the present time as to what the impact of the future high speed rail will be on the bike path along the Caltrain railroad. • What will go in the center of the proposed 2-story classroom building? o This will be a 2-story place for students to gather that will facilitate communication. Classrooms will be at the perimeter of the building. • Please make sure that the visual arts department needs get the same emphasis as the performing arts needs in the master planning. o Lee explained that the goal is to make sure all departments have the space they need to accommodate the student body growth; no space will be taken away from the visual arts department • Please make sure that the new theater is accessible to the elderly, so that we can encourage them to be theater patrons • What is an example of building modernization? o Move the classroom functions out of the library to create conference space, and upgrade utilities if necessary • What will the functions be at the new student center? o Guidance department will move into the second floor of the Tower building, the student center would have more space. There could be a patio or terrace with umbrella tables wrapped around the food service area (which will remain). This would energize the building, opening it up to the quad. • What will happen to the Haymarket Theater? o It can be modernized and used as the black-box teaching space, or perhaps a 150-seat lecture hall. No decision has been made yet, but the idea is to modernize and reclaim the space. • Please consider way-finding about campus with regard to lighting and pedestrian flow. • What efforts are being made to make the new buildings green? o The master planning is being done under The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) guidelines, which exceed California’s Title 24 requirements, and reduces parking spaces due to increase of bicycle use. • How many years will this take? Palo Alto HS MP COMMUNITY MEETING No. 1 Palo Alto Unified School District 03 February 2009 P.4 o A rough estimate at this time is 10 years, but that won’t cover all of the 20– year master planning implementation. Some of these projects will need to be done in a later Bond. • Has the City of Palo Alto had any input on the master planning of Palo Alto High School? o No conversations have taken place with the City so far. • The new theater should be built in the parking lot. This way there will be no displacement of portables or demolition of buildings to disrupt normal school activities. Let’s build it right away! • How many seats does the Haymarket Theater have, and will the new theater have enough seats to house an entire class? o The Haymarket Theater has an estimated 500 seats o Yes. The goal is to house an entire class in the new theater for assembly purposes • Have there been any studies about the impact of the master plan on the Southgate Community? o We are currently focused on master planning for the site itself • Is there a plan to reconfigure the quad? Will its size be reduced? o Yes, the quad will be reconfigured. The plan is to make the quad a place for formal and informal group meeting spaces and introduce more landscape elements. Lee reiterated that there is no detailed design yet. o No. The quad will not be reduced in size • When you design the quad, please focus on the student’s current use of it, and enhance what they have now. o There is a student member of the Facilities Steering Committee that will be giving us feedback from the student body to assist us in the planning phase. END Prepared by Dean Schmitz of Deems Lewis McKinley. Please advise if you feel that any of the above items are inaccurate or need further clarification or detail. cc: Attendees File