School board members have put plans to convert Los Altos High School tennis courts into parking on hold, following strong community opposition in recent months.
At an Oct. 13 school board meeting, trustees were set to vote on a $15,000 study that would have evaluated the traffic impacts of adding a parking lot at the back of the school. However, board members questioned whether there was significant need for more on-campus parking and opted not to vote on the study.
Instead, the board asked district staff to gather more data on the demand for parking and to work more closely with the city of Los Altos to find a solution to parking challenges near the high school.
“I’m not ready to commit to parking until I actually understand what is the need and how we define that need,” board member Vadim Katz said.
Plans to add more parking to campus came after the Los Altos City Council placed new restrictions on parking near the high school last year, leading to a lack of nearby options for students.
At an Aug. 18 study session, the board reviewed proposals that ranged from removing two to four tennis courts, creating approximately 45 to 75 new parking spots. Since then, community members have come out against the plans, arguing that the courts are heavily used by both students and locals.
At last week’s meeting, trustee Alex Levich said that based on newly provided data from school administrators, she thinks there is less need for parking than previously believed.
When distributing on-campus parking permits, the high school prioritizes students who don’t live close to the school. This year, administrators granted 91% of permit requests from students living outside of the surrounding neighborhood, defined based on a boundary line the school created. In total, 183 students living outside the boundary applied for a permit, and 166 received one.
“If all of those students applied, and only 17 of them didn’t get a permit, then that tells us that the most acute need of parking is only 17 spots,” Levich said.
What’s unknown is how many students didn’t apply who would have qualified, Los Altos High School Principal Tracey Runeare told board members. However, she added that she believes the school has adequate parking right now.
Rather than proceed with their own traffic study, trustee Thida Cornes encouraged administrators to instead ask the city of Los Altos for any data that they have already collected.
“A more comprehensive approach is needed,” Cornes said. “We need to establish a formal working relationship with the city on traffic and parking issues, which would benefit both the school and the broader community.”
Three members of the public addressed the board at last week’s meeting about the potential conversion of tennis courts into parking, with all opposed to the idea.
Terry Barton, the chairman of the city of Mountain View’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, told the board that he believes the issue the district is facing is not a lack of parking but a surplus of staff and students driving to campus
“By not working with students to reduce the impact of driving, we are teaching them that the climate change crisis is not a problem that will substantially impact their lives,” Barton said.
Now that the board has asked for more data and increased collaboration with the city, Superintendent Eric Volta told the Voice that there is no definitive timeline for when this topic might be brought back up at a school board meeting.
According to Volta, district administrators will start working with Los Altos to see what sort of traffic studies have been conducted around the school and to determine whether other solutions would address the needs of students.
Good decision, Board. When I was in high school, I biked a couple of miles each way. What they really need to do is survey their students and see how they get to class and why. And make sure that the school has plenty of lockers for bikes, scooters, and whatever electric contraption is the hot new thing these days.
Everyone drives because moms are either in a hurry or checking their phones while driving, which leads to tons of kids getting hit by cars.
I would never let my kid bike in these conditions.
Mountain View stopped writing traffic tickets during the pandemic, so it’s a free for all.
Awesome. You want more kids to drive, so they can crash into other kids.
How about adding bike lanes on Rengstorff Avenue instead?