Planning & Design Meetings 5/4/2010 - Minutes
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 1
PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN
Palo Alto Unified School District
PROGRAMMING AND PREDESIGN: MEETING NO. 5
DATE: 4 May 2010, 3:30-5:00 pm
SUBJECT: Landscape Subcommittee Meeting
ATTENDEES: See attached sign-in sheet
The following are the highlights of the meeting:
1. Todd Young (TY) presented the revised Master Plan. The campus Master Plan was
presented with a focus on the Central Quad.
Question:
There’s a new garden near the tennis courts which is not shown on the plan. There are
also 5 new Oaks adjacent to the El Camino field, which should be reflected on the on
plan. The area should have 6 trees and a bioswale. DLM will follow up with EVA and
landscape program requirements.
Comment:
There is concern from the Adult School regarding the removal of the handicap parking
near the ADA accessible entrance to the Tower building.
Response (Tom Hodges (TH)):
The area will be further developed and will show accurate parking counts including ADA
spaces.
Comment:
There is concern regarding the loss of parking near the Adult School.
Response (TY):
In order to fulfill the campus master plan goal of maintaining a car-free zone in the
campus core we will need to sacrifice some interior parking. A parking plan will be
established.
Comment:
There is an occasional need for car access on campus.
Response (TY):
There will still be service access which can be used to access the campus by car.
2. Todd Young (TY) presented a lighting diagram which was overlaid on top of the
master plan by an electrical consultant.
Comment:
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 2
The Transportation have requested that they have access to the interior campus and
would like to use the Corp Yard as a turnaround area.
Question (TY):
Why wouldn’t the buses use the turn around?
Response (EL):
They feel that there would be conflicts with other cars dropping off/picking up.
Response (TH):
There are two types of buses to consider - the tour buses and the sports buses. The tour
buses can use the drop-off in front of the theater, whereas the sports buses should be
near the Churchill entrance which is closest to the gym.
Response (Aimee Lopez (AL))
We are currently in a coordination process with a transportation and will be proceeding
with more detail as work on individual plans goes into design development.
Comment (Jerry Berksa (JB)):
A have a concern regarding bike theft. The current bike parking location on the east side
of the gym seems very vulnerable.
Comment:
The east side of the gym seems very bare, it needs more tree buffer.
Response (TY):
We can add trees within the bike parking area.
3. Todd young presented bike parking locations.
Response (AL):
We need to make sure we have the correct number of bike parking spaces and in
accordance to the CEQA documents.
Response (EL):
In addition to the two large bike parking locations there will be racks sprinkled around the
buildings.
Response (AL):
We also gave a bike rack standard provided by the traffic safety committee which we
have to adhere to.
Question (Jerry):
I’d like to voice my concern about both the primary bike parking locations related to theft.
They are very close to vehicle entries.
Question:
Can we install cameras?
Response:
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 3
We have used cameras and they are difficult to manage (going through the footage is
very time consuming). If the thieves are on camera they can only be indentified if they
attend Paly. I feel that the large volume thefts are criminals from outside of campus and
therefore nearly impossible to catch.
Question:
How about locked bike cages?
Response:
Student hours differ too much.
Response (TY):
The more eyes on the bikes the better. For theft purposes the safest solution is to put
bikes in an active area of the campus. Bikes within the campus core, is in conflict with
the Master Plan goal of no bikes in the core. But bike parking in active perimeter areas
may achieve both goals.
Comment (AL):
There is a traffic safety issue with bikes in the campus core. They conflict with
pedestrians and the students asked that bikes not be allowed in the interior.
Comment:
It sounds like everyone wants the bikes out of the campus core but if they are on the
perimeter they get stolen.
Comment:
What about forming a bike theft committee?
Response:
It would be difficult to always have students patrol the campus when they should be in
class or studying.
Response (EL):
We can look at breaking up the bike parking areas and putting them closer to the
buildings in order to increase the number of eyes on the bikes.
Question:
Is there a more attractive way to address bike parking with innovative racks?
Response (TY):
The bike racks are predetermined by the Traffic Safety Committee.
Question:
Why do they like the inverted U racks?
Response (Jerry):
The comb racks damage bike tires.
Comment:
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 4
Todd Young asked for resolution regarding bike parking on the interior versus the exterior
of campus. Erwin agreed to talk to a bike expert for suggestions on bike security and will
add small interior bike parking for after hours.
Comment:
We should also keep in mind that the turnaround / drop-off will be pedestrianized and will
feel much different. It would be very obvious if someone pulled into the plaza and started
loading bikes into the back of a truck.
Response (TH):
When you have so many bikes on campus there is always going to be some degree of
bike theft. We can certainly do everything we can to eliminate volumes of stolen bikes
but we are not going to be able to prevent all types of theft.
4. Todd continued to present the turnaround/drop-off area.
Question:
How far will the pavement be from the existing Oaks?
Response (TY):
At this Master Plan level we will not be showing that kind of detail, but we will include
language in the Master Plan goals to address the issue of maintaining a safe distance
from the Oak root crown.
Comment:
It is very important to protect the existing Oaks in the drop-off area.
Comment:
There are also picnic tables under the Oaks which it would be nice to maintain.
5. Todd presented an option to preserve all 3 Eucalyptus at the Library and it was
determined that this is the preferred scheme.
Question (TH):
How will ADA work with the preservation of these trees?
Response (TY):
It will require retaining walls.
Question:
Can the retaining walls act as seat walls?
Response (TY):
If the heights allow, yes.
Question:
Will the feel of the Thomas Church courtyard at Standford be reflected in the Quad
design?
Response:
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 5
Half the quad will remain open and half will have trees to accommodate student activities
on the lawn. The quad will be surrounded by small gathering spaces per comments at
the previous Landscape Subcommittee meeting.
6. Todd requested resolution regarding planting design between the El Camino field and
the tower building. It was determined that a low planting would be provided along the
chain link fence on the El Camino field side, while the Tower Building would have a
trellis about 15’ up the side of the building as presented at a previous meeting by
David Gates. There would be a low hedge along the bottom of the Tower building
wall while a vine would grow up the trellis to soften the stark building wall.
Comment:
It would be nice to anchor the southeast corner of the tower building with a large Oak
tree.
Comment:
It would also be nice to include an iconic palm tree or cluster of palm trees at the front of
the Tower building. It would complement the architecture.
Comment:
We may want to consider removing the trees shown on the plan behind the tower building
so the architecture is not hidden.
7. It was determined that an Oak tree would be added to the southeast corner of the
Tower building in lieu of the cluster of four smaller trees and a cluster of 3 palm trees
would be added to the corner on the opposite side of the building. It was also agreed
that the line of trees on the backside of the Tower Building should be removed from
the plan.
8. Todd Young (TY) presented the revised Senior Court area per comments from the
previous meeting.
Comment:
I am concerned that the removal of lawn separates this area from the quad too much, it
sort of cuts off the courtyard.
Comment:
The existing lawn in that area is under a shaded tree canopy and therefore doesn’t dry
out when it rains.
Question:
Is decomposed granite on the table?
Response:
Not from a maintenance standpoint.
Comment:
The existing lawn is nice. I like the quad lawn continuing through the space.
Response (TY):
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Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 6
We can show a compromise between lawn and paving.
Comment:
I also have concerns regarding the trees blocking the arcade. It would be best to
eliminate all trees in that area.
Response (TY):
We will remove all trees in that area to make room for the existing Oak. We will also add
some turf and a permeable paving pattern.
Comment:
The plans should show the true canopies of existing Oaks near the gym.
Question (AL):
Was it the community’s intent to continue the Sycamore alle?
Response:
We would rather play up the existing Oak canopy and remove proposed trees behind the
gym adjacent to basketball courts.
Question:
Did you revise the character of the gate?
Response (TY):
Yes. It is much less ornate and more mission style.
Response:
It looks much better.
9. Erwin talked about the different project envelopes going into design development.
Comment;
We should be very careful about maintaining flexibility. This is a concept plan. Things will
change when each project comes to reality.
Comment:
The goal is that the look and feel of the plan will stand the test of time.
Question:
Will there be retaining walls along the bioswale near the library?
Response (TY):
Yes.
Question:
Will there be plant materials in the bioswale? Also, will there be seating facing the turf?
Response (TY):
Yes and yes.
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 7
Question:
Will the drainage problem be solved?
Response:
The drainage problem will be improved.
Question:
Why not resolved?
Response:
At the Master Plan level we are planning to hold and treat storm water on-site because
the City system cannot take the amount of water that comes from the school site.
10. Heidi commented on the ongoing process with the multi-field. In June Gilbane would
like the community to site trees along Churchill.
11. Aimee announced that Chuck has found someone to accept a donation of the four
trees in the existing memorial area.
Comment:
The committee would like to review the option of relocating the trees to the ‘memorial’
location.
12. Coordination regarding temporary locations for existing benches took place.
13. Todd presented the idea that a permeable paving company is willing to donate pavers
for the memorial mock-up.
14. Todd reviewed the concept for the mock-up garden presented at last meeting.
15. The subject of relocating the Pear Trees into the mock-up area was resurrected. Idea
of having someone donate the relocation of the trees was brought up and determined
to be okay as long as the entity is insured. If no money is required in the process the
Steering Committee does not have to approve. Another idea involving the entity who
wants the four trees donated came up. If the person wants to dig up all four trees and
leave two for the school it would be easier to find someone to donate the planting of
two trees versus four.
Palo Alto School District – Palo Alto High School Landscape Sub-Committee Meeting 5.4.10
Name E-mail Aimee Lopez alopez@pausd.org
Anne Anderson aa@andpac.com Kirsten Essenmacher kpessenmacher@yahoo.com
PALO ALTO HS LANDSCAPE
Programming and Design
Palo Alto Unified School District
4 May 2010 | Page 8
Sharon Kelly sharon@canopy.org Jerry Berksa jberkson@pausd.org Anne Ingels aeingels@pausd.org
Ruth Gordon rgalfonso@earthlink.net Mary Gordon rgalfonso@earthlink.net Lynn Brown lynnhyattbrown@yahoo.com
Chuck McDonnell cmcdonnell@pausd.org Nancy Bjork ncbjork@sbcglobal.net
Gina Chavez-Larudee gina@dgates.com Todd Young tyoung@dgates.com Heidi Rank hrank@pausd.org
Tom Hodges thodges@pausd.org