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The Shoreview neighborhood in San Mateo.
A highly contested bus depot planned for an already traffic-prone area in the San Mateo-Foster City School District moved many residents to share their concerns at the board meeting Jan. 23, leading the board to postpone its next steps.
Plans for a revamped blacktop at Bayside Academy that would include infrastructure to house 35 buses made many neighbors fret over not only the increased traffic and environmental impacts, but what was described as minimal communication from district leaders.
At the school board meeting, trustees were slated to approve a resolution and filing of why the school was exempted from undergoing an environmental analysis for the project. The exemptions allow the district to move forward with the capital project without having to prove that there would be mitigated or no harmful environmental impact.
Although the goal is for all 35 buses to be electric in the long run, the procurement to do so will take at least five years and, in the meantime, the heavy-traffic area could result in buses filled with students idling and subsequent pollution, residents noted. The construction for the project was slated to begin this spring.
Public concern over the bus depot’s location sparked following a Dec. 31 Nextdoor post made by San Mateo Councilmember Danielle Cwirko-Godycki raising the topic to residents, many who said it was the first they were hearing of the matter. School board Trustee Maggie Trinh said the bus depot was discussed at seven recent board meetings, but the matter was enveloped in agenda items titled as general updates on construction and capital projects throughout the district.
Although the city has no governing power over where the school district can host the bus depot, San Mateo Mayor Rob Newsom spoke during public comment about the concerns he has heard from residents.
Newsom encouraged the district to “please double down on communicating to people that are affected by changes you will be making.”
The district was shopping around for the right location to house its fleet of buses, and the site at Bayside Academy was chosen because of the school’s large, primarily unused blacktop space alongside Leslie Creek, Amy Ruffo, executive director of Facilities and Construction for the district, said.
“We went round and round with so many different vendors, other agencies, we talked to the county, we went all different directions and came up with dead ends,” Ruffo said.
A resident who lives in the Shoreview neighborhood said during public comment the district overlooked a city ordinance that prohibits vehicles over 5 tons driving down Kehoe Avenue beyond Norfolk Street, which the buses would need to do to access the school parking lot.
The district is discussing the matter with its legal counsel but believes there is an exemption that buses would fall under, Deputy Superintendent Patrick Gaffney said.
Trustee Gene Kim said the district has struggled to “share the whole story” of efforts it has made, and said postponing the vote to approve the environmental exemptions filing will also allow for more communication on the matter to be made public.
“It won’t alleviate all the concerns that were raised, but I do think it helps them to know that these conversations were ongoing,” Kim said.
To address misconceptions and the lack of shared information, trustees voted unanimously to delay the vote until next month’s board meeting.
(65) 344-5200 ext. 106
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(9) comments
Every day there is another debate in SM on where people can/not park (Bay Meadows, removing bike lanes for parking, Kiku crossing parking garage not used, bus parking). No wonder nothing gets done. Perhaps the City should spend some time thinking about why cars and traffic are at the center of every decision.
Maybe, joebob91, because cars are necessary and the most efficient means of transportation in our everyday lives. Not just in SM, but just about everywhere. Perhaps SM is looking to ensure, or revert to ensuring, there’s a balance which is best for everyone, not just cyclists of which the majority are likely recreational.
This article is about buses, not bicycles.
Yes, joebob91, the article is about buses. But your initial comment was about cars and bicycles. You opened the door…
TBot, this is all about addiction. America needs a "War on Addiction" ... opioids, fentanyl, smoking, drugs, medication, pills, thrills, cars, speeding, donuts, sideshows, acceleration, horsepower, ... (ask the new vice president)
Driving is about addiction to convenience, addiction to cheap gas, addiction to free highways, addiction to free parking everywhere. Nobody ever wants to pay for the real cost of driving or what it does to a community.
The US reduced smoking rates from 45% in 1954 to 16% in 2018 by making smoking more expensive, more inconvenient, protecting people from second hand smoke, prohibited false advertising, pushed education, etc.
The same isn't true with the addiction of the convenience to cars. With cars they always seem to be doing the opposite. It's like San Mateo's city council wants to fight cigarette smoking by handing out free cigarettes left and right and then complain that they need more money to support the "convenience of these poor, addicted cigarette smokers".
Clearly public transportation or in this case school buses must have priority.
eGerd – Tbot here. An addiction to smoking isn’t comparable to your self-described addiction to the convenience of cars. You can attempt to make cars and their transportation more expensive but a potential result is that folks will begin ignoring areas discriminating against cars. Or, we’ll have more and more delivery cars and vans and trucks in our streets because folks will get their 10 bags of groceries or their cases of water delivered to their homes. When’s the last time you saw anyone lugging 10 bags of groceries or a case of water on a bike or via mass transportation? Clearly public transportation should not have priority – unless you’re a mass transit union worker. The convenience and efficiency of cars will never be matched by bicycles or mass transportation for everyday life.
TBot, I love your fascination with 10 grocery bags. I'm sure you appreciate this guy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/57QBueEV7Fo
Let's count the Super Bowl commercials about cars and trucks.
None of the people will be sitting in commute traffic listening to boring podcasts. I promise none of these people in commercials will be loading 10 grocery bags onto their pickup truck.
No, these commercials will be focusing on speed, acceleration, horsepower, joyriding, sideshows, donuts, monster trucks, recreation, empty streets, etc.
The automobile industry clearly understands that driving is all about dopamine and dopamine is about addiction.
eGerd – Tbot here. The beauty is that 10 grocery bags and a case of bottled water are easily visualized and expose the inefficiency and inconvenience of cycling as a main mode of transportation in our everyday lives. If you’d like, you can suggest a higher number of bags and I’ll incorporate the new number. The reason car and truck commercials don’t need to sell convenience and efficiency is because those are obvious known and accepted facts for all cars and trucks. These folks need to focus on other attributes to sell their product and I don’t blame them. You’d do the same if you were selling a product with multiple competitors.
The lack of transparency for this project is astounding.
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