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Community members are coming out against plans to convert some of Los Altos High School’s tennis courts into additional parking, objecting to taking away athletic facilities that they say are heavily used by both students and community members.
The Mountain View Los Altos High School District is trying to create more room for students to park on campus after the Los Altos City Council placed new restrictions on parking near the high school last year. The city cracked down on parking in the neighborhood after residents raised concerns about students driving unsafely, but the changes have led to a lack of accessible parking for students.
The district hired an architectural firm, which came up with four options to increase parking. The proposals range from removing two to four tennis courts, creating approximately 45 to 75 new parking spaces.
At a board meeting last week, parents and nearby residents showed up to urge the board members to keep the tennis courts and consider alternatives to address the parking issues.
Laura Larghi, who plays tennis and is a member of the Los Altos High Sustainability Committee, asked the board not to take the tennis courts away from the school and surrounding community.
“[The courts] are full of people, used by everybody,” she said at the Sept. 29 meeting. “I queue all the time there. We are looking forward to having the tennis courts back. Please don’t take them away from us.”
Since 2019, four of the school’s 12 tennis courts have been out of commission, acting as storage during the district’s Measure E construction projects. This was originally meant to be a temporary closure, with community members expecting the courts to open after construction finished.
Los Altos High tennis coach Steve Apfelberg objected to any plans that required the permanent removal of courts. Apfelberg, who is in his eighth season coaching girls tennis, came straight from a match to the board meeting, still wearing his coaching outfit. As soon as the games that night finished, members of the public began using every available court, he told the board.
Tennis is also popular among students at Los Altos High, Apfelberg said. About 50 to 60 players try out for the program each year, with 42 making the cut this year. Other schools, in comparison, have about 24 to 28 players in their tennis program, he said.
“My co-coach and I go as far as we can for this great sport, but there’s only so much you can do with the court space, in terms of having an effective practice,” Apfelberg said. “Some of the girls that I had to cut this fall, they can hit the ball in 20 times in a row. … They would totally be on almost every other junior varsity team that we play, and it’s really unfortunate.”
Parking rules lead district to pursue more on-campus spots
Parking restrictions have long existed on the south side of the campus, as well as directly north of the high school on Jardin Drive. However, it wasn’t until last year that the city of Los Altos cracked down on parking in the neighborhood north of Jardin.
Residents complained that kids were driving recklessly, blocking driveways and littering on front lawns, Los Altos Capital Improvement Manager Steven Son said. As a result, the City Council approved new restrictions last August, which were implemented near the end of the year, banning parking from 8 a.m. to noon on five streets between Jardin and Alvarado Avenue.
City Council revisited the topic in February, following community feedback that the new rules were causing trouble for students and nearby residents. Ultimately, the council decided to allow two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to noon in certain areas, but to otherwise largely maintain the restrictions.
The limitations have made it difficult for students to find parking near campus, prompting the district to consider converting tennis courts.
Currently, Los Altos High has 392 on-campus parking spots, including 46 temporary spots that the district added to give students more places to park. In comparison, Mountain View High School, which has roughly the same number of students, has 465 parking spots on campus.
At an Aug. 18 study session, the school board reviewed four options that Quattrocchi Kwok Architects developed to make the number of spots at the two high schools more even:
- Option 1: Remove the four tennis courts currently used as construction storage, allowing for the addition of approximately 78 parking spots, which would be accessed via the existing driveway along Jardin
- Option 2: Remove the four tennis courts closest to the baseball field, allowing for the addition of approximately 76 spots, most of which would be accessed by creating a new driveway along Jardin
- Option 3: Remove the three tennis courts closest to the baseball field, allowing for the addition of approximately 57 parking spots, most of which would be accessed by creating a new driveway along Jardin
- Option 4: Remove the two tennis courts closest to the baseball field, allowing for the addition of approximately 43 parking spots, most of which would be accessed by creating a new driveway along Jardin
Option 1 offers approximately 78 parking spots, with the removal of four courts. Courtesy Mountain View Los Altos High School District. 
Option 2 offers approximately 76 parking spots, with the removal of four courts. Courtesy Mountain View Los Altos High School District. 
Option 3 offers approximately 57 parking spots, with the removal of three courts. Courtesy Mountain View Los Altos High School District. 
Option 4 offers approximately 43 parking spots, with the removal of two courts. Courtesy Mountain View Los Altos High School District.
After the August presentation, Superintendent Eric Volta and the board members agreed that they wanted to provide the greatest number of parking spaces.
However, Volta said that district staff members are wary of putting the lot next to the existing driveway along Jardin because of heavy pedestrian traffic. Given that this is what Option 1 would involve, Volta said that he was leaning towards Option 2, pending confirmation that the new driveway access would be safer than the existing one.
Mapping a path forward, given community opposition
After hearing from community members last week who were concerned about permanently removing tennis courts, Volta told the Voice that district staff will look at the cost of the project, the usage of the courts and enrollment projections before bringing the topic back to the board.
At an Oct. 13 meeting, district administrators plan to seek the school board’s approval to pay Quattrocchi Kwok Architects $15,000 to undertake a traffic study that evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of Options 1 and 2 in terms of vehicular traffic, pedestrian safety and bicyclist safety.
While there’s no projected timeline for when more detailed plans will be brought to the board, Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mike Mathiesen said that the district hopes to complete construction by the start of the next school year, assuming the board decides to proceed with one of the options before summer.
The city of Los Altos also plans to offer the district recommendations on how to best utilize the proposed parking lot, Son said, but he acknowledged that because this will happen on the school’s property, city officials have little say in the project.
The city’s recommendation to the district is to use the new parking lot as staff parking, Son said, because faculty tend to arrive early and leave late, alleviating some of the safety concerns surrounding pedestrians walking along Jardin Drive as cars pull in and out of the proposed lot.
However, Volta said at the Aug. 18 study session that while the district could set aside portions of the lot for staff parking, “getting staff to park that far away from their teaching stations if they’re early would be a challenge.”
