Parents, Residents Question Neighborhood Impact of Redmond STEM School Plans

About 100 Redmond-area residents turned out at a contentious public hearing Tuesday evening, worried about the physical impact of the 's proposal to build a new secondary choice school next to in unincorporated King County.

The school would serve students from throughout the district and have a curriculum dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math — also known as STEM subjects. The proposed seven-acre building site is located on property that has been owned by the district since 1989.

The project's cost is estimated at $26.5 million, and the district hopes to open the school by fall 2012 to coincide with its upcoming grade reconfiguration. Starting in 2012, all LWSD high schools will serve students in ninth through 12th grades, while junior highs will be transformed into middle schools for sixth- through eighth-graders, and elementary schools will serve students through fifth grade.

The new, 66,000-square-foot school would accommodate up to 675 students and feature 24 classrooms, common areas and presentation spaces. There would be no gymnasium or athletic fields, and the district is considering splitting the school day into two shifts, with half the students taking classes in the morning and half in the afternoon.

The district is also still deciding exactly what grade levels the school will serve, but at most it would be open to students in sixth through 12th grades.

Parents and residents who attended Tuesday's meeting at Alcott are worried about many of the site's features, including its impact on wildlife, traffic and safety.

The property is in the far eastern portion of the district and includes both mature forest, which will be spared, and immature forest, which is where the new school would be built.

Marianne Spencer, who lives near the site, said she does not believe the environmental studies adequately consider all the species that live or travel through the surrounding forests, such as a bobcat that was spotted by her neighbor earlier in the week.

"Those of us who live here have our lives enriched by the wildlife that lives here," Spencer said. "Granted the bobcat is not an endangered species, but it is part of our neighborhood as well."

In terms of traffic and safety, some residents also expressed concern about Alcott students who walk to school, as well as how the new school would affect emergency access to and from the neighborhood.

The STEM school's entrance and exit points would be located on 228th Avenue Northeast, just north of where that road intersects with state Route 202. A traffic impact study completed by Gibson Traffic Consultants determined the site's traffic projections don't require any mitigating action under King County code.

Stephanie Allgood, a resident of the nearby Canterbury Woods neighborhood, said she believes the site's parking capacity of 200 cars is unrealistic and that students and staff inevitably will park on residential streets.

Although busing will be provided, many residents said they believe most of the school's older students will opt to drive, especially because the site is a considerable distance from students who live in the western part of the district.

"I know from experience that high schoolers don't take the bus," Allgood said.

Edward Koltonowski, president of Gibson Traffic, helped prepare the site's traffic impact analysis and said the study considered projected trips for both Alcott and the new secondary school and doubled the industry standards regarding projections for typical high school traffic.

In addition, Koltonowski said the school district has the freedom to implement a transportation management plan at the STEM school because students will choose to go there.

"As this is a choice school, there's a lot more control over the student drivers than there would be at other schools," he said.

Several attendees also questioned the district's transparency and choice of site location. Diana Phelps-Soysal said she likes the idea of a STEM school but doesn't agree with the plan as it's been proposed.

"There are so many questions that are not answered, that I'm very concerned about how this is progressing," Phelps-Soysal said. "I'm not sure that the school as you are putting it out to us today is a long-term solution. It feels more like a Band-Aid."

Superintendent Chip Kimball said LWSD chose the site because of population growth in that part of the district. The grade reconfiguration plans, along with an increase in student population, have caused the need for a new secondary school, Kimball said.

"This neighborhood does not believe that this particular project, on this property, the way it is scoped, is best for your community," he said. "What I have to do, is I have to mitigate the needs of 25,000 kids across three different cities and a county in order to meet the needs of the entire community."

Another public hearing related to the STEM school is set for April 13. This meeting will focus on the site's State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, report, which has been appealed by two residents.

Redmond Patch will post more information on next week's meeting when it becomes available.