Forum looks at environmental impacts of new elementary school site
-Special from the Soaring Eagle Press-
While “Annex” project moves forward, Templeton High School retains Measure H-12 priority
Templeton Superintendent Joe Koski. Image from WN.com
An estimated 20 plus interested residents attended the Templeton Unified School District’s (TUSD) Community Forum on Monday. The topic of discussion was the Initial Environmental Impact Study for the proposed elementary school – currently dubbed “Vineyard Annex” – that will be built on Vineyard Drive between Vineyard Elementary School (VES) and Vineyard Dog Park.
“I continue to appreciate the community involvement and feedback,” said TUSD Superintendent Joe Koski who led the Forum. He went on to share that the forum lasted about 45 minutes and the main topics of concern included:
- Traffic mitigation;
- How much water would be needed over and above that which TUSD’s wells already produce for the district properties in that area;
- Concern that the access road on the west side of the Dog Park would not be impacted;
- And whether or not the walking trail between the Vineyards Development and VES would remain available.
With student population at the elementary level growing considerably over the last couple of years and new housing developments in the pipeline, the “Vineyard Annex” is designed to take growth pressure off the two current elementary schools, while continuing to provide the smaller school, home town mode of education favored by Templeton families.
Suggestions, concerns and feedback garnered through the forum and other venues will be part of the mix as the school district moves forward with this project. TUSD continues to look at traffic mitigation solutions and is working closely with Templeton Community Services District (TCSD) to obtain only as much water as will be needed. Koski also said that the access road would remain, and a route between the Vineyards development and VES will be available to students walking to school.
Koski went on to say that the next step in the process is to complete the Environmental Review and submit it to DSA (Department of the State Architect) prior to December 31st in order to avoid significant fee increases to projects that begin in 2015.
He also noted that even though the school district is moving forward expeditiously with this aspect of the “Annex” project, he wanted to assure residents that before building the new elementary school, two important items will take precedence:
1. The plans, specifications, and costs to do the needed work at Templeton High School (Measure H-12 priority) would be completed prior to any expansion at the elementary level;
2. And the incoming Board of Trustees would then determine when and if construction of the “Annex” would take place – as well as how the District would pay for the project
Currently, Templeton Elementary School (TES) is literally “bursting at the seams” with students. The TES property has no room for expansion and provides well under the proscribed green space/play areas necessary for the number of students. In addition, California code only allows for single story school buildings on elementary campuses.
After almost a year of conversations and the vetting of a number of different plans and configuration scenarios, the TUSD Board of Trustees recently gave the greenlight to the “Vineyard Annex” solution and hired the architectural firm of PMSM (Alan Kroeker) to do the project.
Once the new school site is built, TES will serve grades K-1, the “Annex” will provide for grades 2-3 and VES will take grades 4 and 5.
According to previous conversations at school board meetings and community forums, this class and site distribution is designed to provide Templeton students with an educational experience that includes two key elements:
1. Elementary students thrive in smaller school settings – this configuration will allow Templeton school to keep the three elementary sites at or below the school size threshold that provides the optimum educational setting for younger students
2. And moving from school to school as a class, throughout their K-12 education, provides Templeton students with a sense of community and comradery that is one of the key elements that sets Templeton schools apart – positively impacting the education of TUSD students
For more information, the following items are available for review:
- See the TUSD “home page” for more information on both the project and a Public Notice of the Hearing for the Environmental Impact Report (Negative Declaration)
- To access the 2nd Administrative Draft of the Environmental Study, see the link provided at the end of the item above – preliminary site plans and location are included
Please note that a Public Notice has been posted for this item. A Public Hearing will be held at the Thursday, December 11th meeting of the TUSD Board of Trustees along with the probable adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration (Environmental Impact Study). The TUSD office can be reached at 434-5800 for further information.
