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Section 4.0 – Environmental Setting and Discussion of Impacts <br /> <br /> <br />City of Redwood City 97 Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration <br />Sandpiper Elementary School Facilities Expansion November 2016 <br />Under the proposed project, Sandpiper Elementary School would provide a total of 45 parking spaces <br />and, therefore, would meet the City’s parking requirement. In addition, the school would continue to <br />utilize the community center parking lot per the joint use agreement between the City and the <br />District. Under the proposed project, the number of spaces in the community center parking lot <br />would be increased to 55 spaces. <br /> <br />4.16.3.5 Site Access and On-Site Circulation (Checklist Question 1) <br /> <br />As shown on the site plan (refer to Figure 3.2-1), the project proposes the following on-site <br />circulation improvements: <br /> <br />• The eastern driveway currently has one inbound and one outbound lane. Under the proposed <br />project, the eastern driveway would be a one-way entrance with one inbound lane. <br />• The western driveway currently has one inbound and one outbound lane. Under the proposed <br />project, the western driveway would be a one-way exit with one outbound lane. <br />• The parking aisle between the school driveways currently has one eastbound lane. Under the <br />proposed project, the parking aisle would be one-way and striped with two westbound lanes. <br /> <br />Drop-Off and Pick-Up Operations <br /> <br />Drop-off and pick-up operations were observed at Sandpiper Elementary School in spring 2016. <br />During the AM peak hour of school traffic, the school drop-off queue backed onto Redwood Shores <br />Parkway during the two-minute period just before school started. Redwood Shores Parkway includes <br />a dedicated right-turn lane for the elementary school entrance approximately 300 feet in length. <br />Overall, drop-off operations at Sandpiper Elementary School were adequate, except during the two- <br />minute period just before school started. Prior to school dismissal, the loading area as well as the <br />parking lots were fully parked. Several vehicles were observed circling the parking lot. No <br />significant on-site circulation issues or queuing at nearby intersections were observed prior to and <br />during school dismissal. <br /> <br />Under the proposed project including fulfillment of existing unmet school capacity, an additional 286 <br />(156 in and 130 out) and 195 (93 in and 102 out) vehicles would enter/exit Sandpiper Elementary <br />School during the AM and PM peak hours, respectively. This is an approximately 57 percent <br />increase over existing conditions. Although the on-site circulation improvements listed above would <br />help offset the additional traffic, it is expected that the increase in traffic under the proposed project <br />during the AM peak hour would lengthen queues on-site, which could potentially result in longer <br />queues off-site at the eastbound left-turn pocket and the westbound right-turn pocket serving the <br />project site. <br /> <br />The queuing that could occur in the project area under the proposed project would not be substantial <br />and would not create a safety hazard. This is because the queues would usually be contained on-site, <br />the 300-foot dedicated right turn lane for the school driveway would accommodate westbound <br />queues, and the left turn pocket would usually contain eastbound queues. While it is possible that <br />queues could exceed the capacity of the left turn pocket by one or two cars during the few minutes <br />before school starts, eastbound traffic volumes on Redwood Shores Parkway in the project area <br />7.A. - Page 128