Description

Improper design of the High Rock School roundabout , radius entrance of the driveway and Handicap parking fail to conform to Massachusetts State Law ( Handicap Parking laws & school minimums) standards for school safety guidelines that is currently endangering High Rock children now. The lack of a adequate design and to small a radius outside proper requirements has lead to numerous instances of buses needing to backup during school hours on a daily basis to get into position to board children. This has resulted in a documented near miss of 2 female children leaving school last May 2014 during a rain storm (video'd). It also has caused the Boston METCO bus to back up entire length of Ferndale Rd back out onto Sylvan St in Sept 2011.
RMV manager Margaret Rohan has authorized Needham officials to back 2 buses up 130 feet on school property during school hours on a daily basis. The result of these design defects but an accident, death or injury to a child waiting to happen.
In addition as recently as Needham police responded as recent as 9/18 & 9/19/14 to ask school officials to have the owners move their cars from in front of a faded existing "No Parking Anytime" sign at Ferndale Rd and the school's entry driveway point, from the Handicap parking spaces, and from the middle of the roundabout. They were causing bottlenecking and obstacles for buses and or fire apparatus to have to navigate to enter the roundabout or to gain access to the building.

Abutting residents are currently seek the Transportation Committee's assistance, advise, support as well as counsel to find a short and long term solution to the issues at hand.
It been requested to present to the Committee such issues and some suggested proposals to resolve them in order to make the unloading and loading of students at High Rock as safe as possible.
Such as;

A. SHORT TERM:
a1. Replace faded no Parking Anytime signs. (Officer Harmon submitted request DPW 9/3/14)
a2. Extend yellow painted lines 20 feet to driveway entry point and in middle roundabout.
a3. Ask School department to enforce its own parking rules and regulations at High Rock upper parking lot by asking employees not to park illegally, in Handicap or Visitors spaces. Especially when there are over 25 empty legal parking spaces on a daily basis in the lower level parking lot.

B. LONG TERM:
b1. Review Town engineering plans to correct design defects in the upper and lower parking plans. Such as the roundabout turn radius, the driveway entry point width, relocating the existing Handicap parking spaces away from hazards. such hazards are the existing location of the parking lots storm drain which was placed directly in the Handicap Parking spaces, the sloping of grade directly toward Handicap parking which causes ice, slush and storm water and rain to collect directly within and around the Handicap driver during inclement weather and winter months. Raise the curb directly adjacent to the storm drain which declines from sidewalk height to zero at the parking lot level ( to allow for wheelchair access to the sidewalk) but acts as a funnel during heavy rain and storm conditions bringing run off water over the sidewalk forming a gully traveling down the hillside.
b2. Continue Willow Street at Spruce St. 200 feet through school owned wooded land to provide roadway for bus access to school at the lower lot. Willow and Spruce St are both owned by the school dept. as private roadways. Spruce St runs off Linden St along the field into Willow St near the existing basketball courts. Willow runs from the Spruce St between the basketball courts and school building out to Sylvan St. (see assessors plan #133).
b3. Pave 105 feet of driveway and a walkway at 77 Sylvan St., High Rock school's legal address and property (see Lot 44 on assessors map 133) which would provide direct access for buses into the roundabout off of Sylvan St. This would end illegal backing up of buses on a daily basis as buses could pull out of school onto Ferndale Rd.
See May 2014 video of bus backup toward 2 High Rock students during rain storm ..below in upload Image.