Mercy’s plans for new gym, pool move forward

It’s appropriate for Mercy’s planned pool and gymnasium to have a similar curfew as surrounding schools so that its students can have equitable use of sports facilities, commissioners agreed, overruling neighborhood concerns around noise and traffic. 

“The gym [has] a huge impact on girls. My daughter played sports and the impact that sports had on her — she went on to college and rode, and it served her well,” Commissioner Sandy Comaroto said. “I am a huge proponent of this gym … and I fully support it going to 10 o’ clock.”  

A majority of neighborhood complaints revolved around the curfew and requested the school be required to close down operations at the facility by 8:30 p.m. Little was said about the design review approval and construction permits the Planning Commission also approved 5-0, with two absences. 

“Congratulations, I guess, that nobody complained about the design of the building. That will be really straightforward,” Commissioner Audrey Tse said. 

Mercy High School is an all-girls high school in Burlingame and a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, operating within Kohl Mansion. Brosnan pointed to the hypocrisy of Kohl Mansion hosting events that at times go to 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. — including Mercy’s own school dances — but prohibiting the gym from nighttime operation. 

“To know an event in the mansion has been occurring two and half hours after the gym has been shut down does not make sense,” she said. “I struggle with how to explain to our students that they can dance until 11, but they cannot dribble a basketball past 8:30 pm.” 

The athletic facilities would be in use until 10 p.m. only in situations when games had been delayed or sports teams made it to state tournaments, Brosnan said previously. A caveat in the conditions of approval did state that events held at the outdoor swimming pool be limited to daylight hours. 

A variety of Mercy students and alumni spoke in support of the facility and its extended curfew. One Mercy senior spoke about the demoralizing experience of picking up her brother from late-night practices at all-boys Catholic school Serra, where gym use curfews have never been an issue. 

“Don’t all these dedicated athletes deserve to have a place to use and rely on? There is a deep need for a gym in our community,” Gabriella Magoolaghan said. “It’s clear that, throughout my years at Mercy, I haven't gotten the same opportunity to train equally.” 

One neighbor, Lynn Israelit, rebuked the idea that the gym closing time was an equity issue for women’s access to sports and said the neighbor’s concerns around curfew needed to be considered. 

“The reason that Mercy is in a different situation than many Peninsula or Bay Area high schools across the county is that Mercy is a private school that is in the middle of a densely residential neighborhood with quiet and residential streets,” she said. “This is completely different than all of the other high schools.” 

Other neighbor concerns about the project involve the construction crews that will be required in the area during the project’s development process, with some suggesting they enter Mercy’s campus at the gate at Alverado Avenue and Adeline Drive, rather than through two smaller gates on Hoover. 

Candi Griffin, a community member, shared her daughter’s own near-miss experience with the dangerous traffic on Adeline Drive, including the Adeline Drive and Vancouver Avenue intersection where her daughter was hit by a car in the past. Reconfiguring the intersection and potentially adding four-way stop signs could be one solution, she said via email. 

“I am concerned that additional vehicles from the new project will only worsen this dangerous situation,” Griffin’s email read. “I respectfully request that you conduct an assessment of this intersection and consider the safety concerns of residents like myself when considering the impact of this project.” 

Ultimately, commissioners decided in fairly short order to allow Mercy to have a 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. curfew, also deciding to strike regulation for rental purposes of the new gym from the conditional use permit. 

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