Planning & Design Meetings Neighborhood Meeting #2 3/12/2009 - MinutesPALY COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN MEETING NO. 2
Palo Alto Unified School District 12 March 2009
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PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN
Palo Alto Unified School District
MASTER PLAN
COMMUNITY PRESENTATION NO.2
DATE: 12 March 2009, 6:30–8:00 pm
SUBJECT: Master Plan Presentation to Members of the Community
ATTENDEES: No sign-in sheet available
The following are the highlights of the meeting:
1. As an introduction, Principal Jacqueline McEvoy welcomed the members of the
public audience and introduced architect Erwin Lee. She summarized that there
have been nine master planning meetings with the Facilities Steering Committee
and one meeting with the Community so far. She explained the there are
approximately 1,750 students currently enrolled, and that the number of students
that the master plan is designed for is 2,300. This is the projected number of
enrolled students for 2017. More information on the demographics study can be
found on the school’s website.
2. Architect Erwin Lee presented the current master plan site diagram and project list.
He described the various projects that were derived from the master planning
efforts, their associated groupings, priorities and costs. He showed a new proposed
site plan that reflected the absence of the Corporation Yard and showed eight
relocated tennis courts in its place. He reiterated that all projects within the same
group aren’t necessarily going to happen at the same time, and that the goal is to
uniformly bring every building that is affected by the master plan up to the same
level of quality.
3. Lee introduced John Wilson of Wilson Engineering and Transportation Consultants,
Inc. Mr. Wilson is the traffic consultant that is working with the district to assist in the
design of the parking and drop-off areas of campus.
4. The meeting was opened for public comment. The highlights of the comments and
questions from the public audience were:
• Is it possible for the Career Tech building to be removed/relocated so that the
soccer field could fit there? This comment was relative to the corporation yard
being relocated.
o Lee stated that fire access/emergency vehicle access would need to be
maintained, and with this requirement maintained, the soccer field would not
fit.
PALY COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN MEETING NO. 2
Palo Alto Unified School District 12 March 2009
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• What is happening with the 100-building?
o Yearbook, photography and the darkroom will be relocated from the 100
building, which will provide additional performing art spaces. Glass-blowing,
choir and orchestra will stay in the building and Home Economics will be
relocated to the future Career Tech building.
• What is the Performing Arts Theater going to be? Has its size been reduced?
o Lee explained that the new theater will have approximately 600-seat capacity
and will include back of house, lobby, green room space, and storage area. It
will not have a black box theater, classrooms, or large storage facilities. The
program is not the same as the Performing Arts Center that was previously
contemplated. The budget and program was scaled back to be more in line
with what was originally contemplated in the bond, which was a Theater in lieu
of a Performing Arts Center.
• If the tennis courts are relocated, would there be an entrance from Churchill?
o John Wilson, the traffic consultant, who is researching the current design of
the traffic circulation, stated that there is currently not enough data to make
that decision, but that option could be investigated.
• Please explain the bicycle rack locations in the master plan? How many bike
parking spaces does the master plan include?
o Currently there are approximately 400 spaces. The master plan is designed
for a maximum of 800. Lee pointed out the three proposed locations of the
bicycle racks, and explained that the goal is to prevent bicycle traffic through
the quad.
• What is the timeline for the first three (currently funded) projects?
o The design phase could start as early as April. Principal McEvoy added that it
is important to get the new classroom building completed as soon as possible
to mitigate the strain on interim housing during construction of the later
projects.
• If an elevator needs to be added to the Tower Building for ADA compliance,
where would it go?
o Lee explained that elevator locations are currently being investigated, and that
it is very possible that the elevator could go in the building. The originally
proposed idea of placing the elevator in the new student center and bridging
to the Tower Building, went away with the change to an addition and remodel
in lieu of a replacement building.
• Is there still a Theater Sub-Committee that is researching other theaters as case
studies for the proposed Performing Arts Theater?
o McEvoy confirmed that the sub-committee has not yet reported back with their
results, but it is still active.
• Is the 300 building a place for the new lecture hall? It needs to be replaced
because it is “junk”.
o If we can renovate the building we will. If not, it could perhaps be converted to
another program use such as offices.
• Why is the Career Tech Building so low on the priority list?
o McEvoy explained that the program is in transition, and that no decision can
be mode about how much space is needed until the Career Tech program is
better defined.
PALY COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN MEETING NO. 2
Palo Alto Unified School District 12 March 2009
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• What goes into the new Media Arts building?
o The building will house mostly media arts programs such as video production,
photography, and yearbook, which are currently scattered around the campus.
It will also provide expansion for the studio arts program.
• What is the primary criterion for prioritizing the various project groups?
o Lee explained that the primary goal of the District is to accommodate growth.
Replace the existing relocatable classrooms and provide additional
classrooms for growth.
o McEvoy added that some priorities were predefined by the bond itself, for
example, the Performing Arts Theater project was originally unfunded.
• How realistic is it that the corporation yard will be relocated?
o McEvoy explained that it is a long range consideration and will probably not
happen anytime soon.
5. The next scheduled master plan meeting is:
• 17 March 2009 at 6:30 pm (Board meeting for the draft Master Plan document)
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: T. Hodges, P. Stickney, J. McEvoy, J. Berkson, E. Lee
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