BOE Unanimously Approves Parking Lot Expansion

The Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a capital project at which will add four more classrooms and an additional alternative of adding an 82-spot parking lot expansion.

The vote came after a presentation from Board Member Matthew Gilfillan, of the finance/facilities committee, and after an opportunity for public comments. Board members also explained their votes to those in attendance.

According to Gilfillan's presentation, the expansion of the parking lot will also include some concessions to address residents' concerns. He said the board will install a pedestrian path along Longwood Avenue to make it easier for students coming from that direction to approach the school through the fields in the back rather than having to walk along Lafayette Avenue, where the sidewalks are located on the opposite side of the street as the Chatham High School and .

Chatham High will also have a teacher assigned to the lot each day between 7 and 8 a.m. who will only allow permitted parkers to enter the lot. Also, the fee for a parking space will increase $6 per semester to $50.

Board Member Jill Weber said she thought one of the aspects of creating the additional spaces that never came up was the safety of having multiple passengers in a car with a teenage driver. She said she looked into some of the risks involved with teenage drivers.

With a 17-year-old driver, Weber said, "the chances of having a fatal accident are increased by 50 percent when you have a third passenger in a car. It increases by about five times when it's a male driver because of the risks that they take. ...

"And if you look at the times that have not the most number of accidents but the most number of fatal accidents [happen, they are], Monday through Friday...between 3 in the afternoon and 6 at night. ... By forcing four kids in a car, almost, they are statistically more likely to be in an accident," Weber said.

Without the parking lot expansion, 96 parking lots would have to be shared between 303 seniors. Weber said if the school kept the ratio of students per car at such a high number, they would significantly heighten the likelihood of students having a fatal accident.

Weber also said that, according to her research, fatalities among 17-year-olds had decreased 44 percent since the graduating drivers license system was introduced in 2001. "Those are just not numbers that we could totally ignore," she said.

One Chatham parent, Healther Turnbull, spoke in favor of approving the parking lot.

"I commend you for seeing the growing population as an issue to be dealt with, and for dealing with it and planning for it," she told the board.

Resident Jim Urbelis, who has spoken in previous meetings asking the board to consider other options besides expanding the lot, said he did not think the board had adequately addressed concerns brought up at prior meetings.

"I still would like some additional information," he said.

Urbelis said he knew of many other residents who had spoken at previous meetings and written letters to Superintendent Jim O'Neill and members of the board. He said he understood the concerns of those opposed to the parking lot expansion "were going to be addressed one-by-one" at Monday's meeting.

"I have not seen that addressed. I would ask the board if they would please send this to me, in writing, those items and how they were addressed," he said. "I saw what was presented on the screen [in Gilfillan's presentation], and it said it just didn't work. So if you could provide the backup for why it just didn't work, that would be greatly appreciated."

Urbelis also said Gilfillan's presentation did not show enough detail of the parking lot. He said he would like to see how close the lot will be to the property line, what kind of lights will be used and where they will be located, and greater overall detail.

O'Neill said one of the most commonly suggested alternatives to the parking lot expansion was to have teachers park at Cougar Field and have the district operate a shuttle bus to transport them to the high school.

O'Neill said this option was ruled out for "a number of reasons." The parking lot at Cougar Field is unpaved and unmarked and currently is not plowed in winter because of the difficulty and expense of plowing an unpaved lot, especially in addition to the six school parking lots that need to be plowed as well.

O'Neill also said a shuttle or "jitney" bus was not a cost-effective way to mitigate the growing demand for parking. He said it would cost the district between $40,000 and $50,000 to rent a shuttle bus, and more to purchase a bus and employ a driver, who would have to operate the bus almost all day long.

"The amount of gas we would be using, the fumes we'd be putting into the air, ... seemed to offset the environmental concerns" of expanding the parking lot, O'Neill said.

"Then, the estimate was in 10 years, we would have spent at least $500,000 and we would have the same problem that we have today," O'Neill said.