Springfield schools have until Jan. to provide traffic plan

The Springfield Development Review Board has given the local school district until January to submit a revised application to address the changes made to the renovations to the town’s two elementary schools.

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Published November 20, 2010 in the Rutland Herald         Springfield schools have until Jan. to provide traffic plan         By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer         SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Development Review Board has given the local school district until January to submit a revised application to address the changes made to the renovations to the town’s two elementary schools.         At the top of the list is the long-awaited traffic study by RSG, a White River Junction consulting firm, which evaluated the impact the expansion of the two schools would have on the neighborhoods surrounding them.         William Kearns, the town’s zoning administrator, said the review board needed the updated information in advance of its February meeting, when the board would consider the revised application.         Earlier this week, Superintendent Frank Perotti said that he and other members of the School Board had met last week with the Development Review Board over the controversy. Board Chairman Scott Adnams and Perotti said the meeting was “very cordial and respectful.”         Perotti said Tuesday that a major problem delaying the traffic study was the extended maternity leave of the lead person on the RSG study. He also said that the schools and town hadn’t given the traffic consultant all the information she had requested about traffic and sidewalks in the schools’ neighborhoods.         Perotti said school officials would be meeting with RSG representatives on Wednesday to discuss the status of the traffic study, as part of the weekly update meetings wrapping up the schools’ renovation projects.         “They are very close to finalizing it,” the superintendent said. “They still need some data.”         Also at Monday night’s meeting, Susan Whittemore, principal of Elm Hill School, said parents and neighbors of the school had recently met to discuss mutual concerns. Parents lining up before the end of school to pick up their children at Elm Hill is a major contributing factor to the traffic problems.         Perotti said the intersection of Douglas, Hoover and Elm Hill has a very long crosswalk and is a concern to the RSG consultant.         He said RSG needs to know when the town plans on upgrading the intersection, and what the town’s plan for upgrading the sidewalks in the area are.         “I’m not sure they can commit to budgeting for it,” said Perotti, who said that the two issues were “on the town’s radar.”         But the key, he said, was convincing parents of the youngest students to put them on the bus, rather than driving the children in person to the school.         “The question is, ‘Why don’t they use the bus?’ We need to convince them to put kids on the bus,” he said.         Residents have complained that the parents waiting for their children block the narrow neighborhood streets, making it impossible for emergency vehicles to get through. In some cases, parents have blocked the driveways of residents.         Earlier this year, the School Board decided to make Elm Hill School a kindergarten through Grade 2 school, and Union Street School a Grade 3 through Grade 5 school. Previously, both schools contained kindergarten through Grade 3, with the other elementary students going to Park Street School, which has been closed.         According to Perotti, the Springfield Development Review Board was notified of the change in the classes at each school in May.         The Development Review Board is particularly looking for a mitigation plan to allow for access by emergency vehicles, he said.         http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20101120/NEWS02/711209909