CSUS Informational Meeting is Mostly Cordial

Empty chairs outnumbered occupied seats Wednesday night in Belmont as representatives of Crystal Springs Uplands School met with local residents to address public concerns that have surfaced regarding their plans to open a private middle school just off Ralston Avenue.

Approximately 35 residents gathered at the proposed school site on Davis Drive. Of that total, only a handful spoke out in opposition to opening the school, mostly voicing issues of the impact school traffic would have on Belmont's prime thoroughfare during morning rush hour.

"My granddaughter stayed at my house recently and I had to drive her to school in the morning," said one resident, "down Ralston and across Cipriani, and the traffic was absolutley horrendous."

"You're actually doubling the traffic at Davis and Ralston in the morning, and in the afternoon," said another. "They're coming in, and they're going right back out."

"CSUS will add very little traffic," responded Brian Jackson, a spokesman for Hexagon Transportation Consulting. "Not a noticeable amount."

Jackson stated he'd been observing the Davis/Ralston intersection many mornings, and was convinced the school would not significantly add to the present congestion on Ralston.

In addition, Head of School Amy Richard stated the school intends to mitigate any potential bottlenecks in several ways. The school's start time will be staggered to more evenly distribute morning traffic flowing to nearby Ralston Middle School. Shuttles will run up and down Ralston Avenue. The school intends to use a bus traveling the Highway 280 corridor to bring students to school from outlying Peninsula towns. And she pointed out that about 1/3 of the present students at the Hillsborough campus use Caltrain to get to school.

"We assume the same percentage will come to Belmont on the train," said Richard, "and we will shuttle those students to and from the Caltrain Hillsdale station using buses."

Repeatedly throughout the evening, CSUS officials suggested that the proposed school is a better alternative for residents than for a new business to come and occupy the 83,000 square feet of presently-vacant warehouse space. CSUS only intends to use 46,000 square feet of space, decreasing the footprint on the parcel by 42 percent.

"We will actually bring fewer vehicles to this site," said Richard, "than if it was occupied by a business. It's an absolute imperative that we are good residents and a good neighbor. I think the thing to remember is that may or may not be true of the next occupant of 6, 8, 10 Davis Drive."

One resident at the meeting changed her mind - in favor of the project - after attending the session. "I read the flyer they gave out, it talked about giving taxes to our community, which I thought we were going to get none," said Holly Schaezlein. "I have been up to the Hillsborough campus, and it's a fantastic place. It would be stupid for them to come into a place where they couldn't make the people happy. They want their people to be happy."

Officials admitted the school did not anticipate there would be as much opposition to the project as they have experienced. "But we're glad that we have the opportunity to address it,head on," said Crystal Springs Director of Development Andrea Edwards, "and do what we can to mitigate our impact. I think we're going to try to show the residents of Belmont that we're going to bring a lot, and we're going to do as much as we can to make sure we're not impacting their quality of life."

In the best case scenario, CSUS hopes to open in the Fall of 2014.

The next step is a public hearing before the City of Belmont Planning Commission Tuesday, June 19 at 7 p.m.

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