Redwood City halts proposal for charter school

Dave Tanner, owner of a home and landscape design business on Charter Street, filed the appeal on behalf of the Redwood Village Business Association, a collection of business owners with locations near the site straddling Redwood City and San Mateo County land where the one-story 23,200-square-foot school was proposed. Citing concerns about how the influx of 480 students and up to 40 staff members would affect traffic in an area frequented by trucks and tractor-trailers, Tanner has opposed the project for months.

“We’re here tonight not to talk about the school itself, it’s about the location where the school’s proposed,” he said, according to video of the meeting.

Though Tanner’s appeal drew support from several other business owners, residents and ultimately councilmembers concerned about the site chosen for the project, hundreds of project supporters filled Redwood City Hall Monday. Many of them were students and parents advocating for new facilities for the charter school, which currently shares facilities with John F. Kennedy Middle School at 2521 Goodwin Ave.

Marie Gil, Rocketship’s Bay Area regional director, said in an email that the entire Rocketship community is deeply disappointed by the council’s decision to deny the opportunity to build the school, but that the organization respects the decision and will move forward.

“Just as our families continue to advocate for their school, we will not stop fighting for our families and we are fully committed to supporting Rocketship Redwood City Prep,” she said.

Mayra Torrez, a parent of two students attending Rocketship schools, cited the importance of having a school nearby the communities where students live. Having grown up in Redwood City, she was frustrated with the slow speed of the planning process for a much-needed school facility.

“I want a school in our community,” she said at the meeting. “Why do we have to push our children to other communities when we have our own?”

Though school officials confirmed 80 percent of the school’s current population would live within a mile and a half of the project site, Councilwoman Diane Howard had several questions about the school’s plans to manage congestion during student drop-off and pick-up times. She wasn’t convinced the school’s proximity to its current population would mean fewer parents are driving their children to school, even with the staggered start times, shuttles and carpools school officials said would mitigate congestion.

“I’m struggling with how you would expect over 200 students to not take cars and share vehicles to get to school because a mile and a half for a young child is a long walk,” she said.

Christina Bauer, who runs a plumbing wholesale company near the project site, said her customers and those delivering products to her location at 820 Willow St. frequently drive trucks in and out of her business’ driveway.

“It’s an industrial area, there’s lots of trucks coming in and out and safety is my number one concern,” she said.

Howard also expressed concern about the compatibility of the project with the industrial zone surrounding the site, citing the steady loss of industrial zones in nearby areas.

As a resident of the neighborhood, Councilwoman Janet Borgens highlighted the number of schools already located in the area, such as Taft Community School, Hoover Elementary School and Summit Preparatory Charter High School. She advocated for more students to be added to existing schools, where facilities were better equipped for students.

“We are a neighborhood of schools, so it’s not that this neighborhood doesn’t have a school,” she said.

Mayor John Seybert said a new Rocketship facility would be welcome in Redwood City with a more appropriate location, but added he wasn’t ready to take the risk of mixing the type of traffic the neighborhood currently experiences with the traffic that accompanies schools.

“The reality is that the quality and the type of traffic in this area is not conducive to school children,” he said.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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