Broughton High School Parking Lot Plan Denied
Today the Raleigh Planning Commission denied a plan to expand Broughton High School’s parking needs (.PDF) by paving the west half of the school’s historic front lawn.
The grounds at Broughton High School have changed quite a bit over the past few years. The football/soccer/band practice field is now a stadium, and cannot be used for non-athletic events. The school is heavily using, instead, the field across St. Mary’s Street in Fletcher Park. One of the alternative plans to the one denied calls for paving the Fletcher Park field and use it as a parking lot.
Principal Roy Teal spoke to the commission and outlined why he supported a new parking lot on the front lawn. Due to an historic preservation ordinance, trailers are no longer on the front lawn. They are now in the rear parking lot where the teachers used to park. The proposed lot was intended to replace the spaces lost due to the trailer relocation. The school now has 2240 students and 60 parking spaces for them. As a result many more students are parking in surrounding neighborhoods. Mr. Teal feels that students and neighbors would be a lot safer if the students remained on school property as much as possible. He also promised excellent landscaping.
The other change that has seriously impacted the parking situation was the conversion of Cameron Street (”the strip”) to parallel parking. Apparently there was an injury accident a few years ago (and resulting legal action) which prompted the city and the school system to complete the long-prescribed transfer of the strip to the domain of the City. Under City of Raleigh guidelines, 90-degree parking must be at least 18′ deep. The road, however, is only 40′ wide, so there isn’t enough width remaining for traffic to allow 90-degree parking. Several Planning Commission members (including some BHS alumni and parents) requested that the City allow a variance allowing the return of 90-degree parking.
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One alternative mentioned several times throughout the meeting is a parking deck, most likely on the Fletcher site. The last figure I’ve heard is that these cost around $40,000 per space. If the school needs 400 spaces and has 60 spaces, then a 340-space deck would cost nearly $14 million.
Another alternative is to shrink the school’s enrollment. However because of the magnet program bringing in hundreds of students outside of the school’s “natural” district, many classic Broughton neighborhoods are now districted to other schools such as Sanderson and Athens. Magnet students come with a hefty subsidy from the school system, so if the school were pared down, guess which students would be removed (hint: not the magnet students).
One commission member proposed a variance to move the trailers back to the front lawn.
The plan was denied 6-3 based on the commission’s desire to explore other options for gaining spaces.
What I would like to know is why the school’s stadium wasn’t located in Fletcher Park. It is used a couple of dozen times through the year, and its location in the heart of the BHS campus is requiring hundreds of student trips across a busy St. Mary’s street throughout the year. There is even a natural bowl contour in the seldom-used park, and the existing stadium is so cheap, it could easily be dismantled and relocated to Fletcher Park. The main cost at that point is the grading. Here’s a map of the location to which I’m referring ( http://tinyurl.com/5h2hj5 ).
The best solution is to relocate the stadium and allow variances for the return of the front lawn trailers and the 90-degree parking. If that doesn’t satisfy the parking needs, then pave the field across St. Mary’s Street. It wouldn’t be needed for athletics if the old practice field could be used throughout the year.
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September 10th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Score one for open space.
Was there any discussion of reducing the need for parking? Buses, car pools, parking fees that would pay for structured parking?
September 10th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Well…there IS a free bus dedicated to every student in the system. Lo and behold, when students are given a choice, they prefer personal transit over public. (Imagine that.)
Nevertheless, we are talking about probably 1100-1300 students eligible to drive who are getting 60 spaces. So if we could get about 20 people in each car…
Over 20 years there are about 8000 different people who would park in the deck. So the monthly fee to break even is somewhere around $175/mo. That’s actually feasible given that it’s Broughton.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
We need underground parking.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
i call first spot
September 10th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I have to disagree with you about Fred Fletcher. I wouldn’t call it a “seldom-used” park at all. Every time I’m there, it’s teeming with dog-walkers, mothers with children on the swingset/play area, and groups of friends playing tennis, basketball or soccer. With the new water garden and completed pathways around the perimeter, I’m guessing that even more walkers/joggers will use the park.
I’m all for Broughton’s teams/band using the Fred Fletcher fields for practices, but I don’t think the stadium should be relocated there.
Maybe a partial solution would be to somehow encourage carpooling, biking and walking to school? I know it won’t solve the problem, but it might help some.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The park is not an option at all. Softball games, soccer games, pee wee football games as well as pickup games are going on there almost all the time. On the upper field that the band uses there are soccer league games every Sunday, pickup football on Saturdays, little league soccer other Saturdays, and pickup Frisbee games on Wednesday’s. The softball/larger field is in use all the time as well.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Incentive-based carpooling. They have parking security guards at that school, why not use them to manage the use of exclusive lots for students who carpool to cut down on the needs for as many additional spaces. Certainly not the end game/fix all solution, but could definitely help.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:49 am
The plan to just turn one of the fields into a parking lot does not work. Soccer and Football require the use of both fields at the same time.
There is also a decent amount of private parking with York and Kip-Dell (at least that is who used to operate them) both having around 60 spaces. The “strip” can still hold around 40, but if the road was made one-way then you could double that. The “pit” should also hold about 60 spaces as well, but maybe this is what is the only student parking right now.
There is probably only a need of around 500 spaces, because a decent amount use the bus and carpooling is highly used. (It is not uncool to ride with your good friends to and from school) So, there still is a need for another 400 spaces, but there is still a lot of parking on streets. (Washington St has a lot of space)
I love open space, but that front lawn was never used for anything when I went there (quite awhile ago now), so I hope they do use it for something.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
First of all, the stadium and track facility is used more that a couple dozen times a year. It is used almost every for team practices (football, soccer, track, lacrosse, band, etc.), along with Fletcher park and Broughton’s baseball field. Converting the stadium into a parking lot would be extremely senseless and expensive. In addition, Fletcher park is much smaller and would probably upset the residents of Bishop’s Park.
I believe that a parking deck at Fletcher Park is not a bad idea. There is a second field there that can be used by other sports leagues, as well as, plenty of open space.
Instead of paving Broughton’s front lawn, I propose that it be converted into another practice field. This way, a field is not lost if a parking deck is built at Fletcher.
Additionally, moving the trailers back to the front lawn would make no sense at all. If they are opposed to a parking lot, then why do you think they would want trailers there again? Think about it.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
The way I see it, there are a few items that are possible to change:
BHS Front lawn
Fletcher field
Fletcher park
BHS stadium
One or two of these must go. Which one(s)?
Mr. Teal talked about the school’s target of having 400 spaces (they currently have 60, so they need an addition 340 or so). 90deg parking could return the 50 they lost, while moving trailers back to the underused front lawn would gain another 50 or so.
It seems like all of the Fletcher park activities cited could be done on Broughton’s front lawn and on its practice fields. I am not proposing total loss of Fletcher. Rather using some underused areas as a small stadium. The rest could remain park area.
I went in the mid 80’s and the four things that have changed are the introduction of the stadium, the movement of the trailers, the parallel parking on the strip, and about 20% expansion of the student body. Something in that list above has to give.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
AZ, I don’t think anyone has proposed to convert the stadium into a parking lot. Rather, conversion of the Fletcher Park field (that is right on St. Marys street) into a parking lot is the alternative plan. This means sports teams and the band, which use the field, would relocate to the front lawn.
If I’m not mistaken, Wake Co. regs require game turn in stadiums to not be used for practices.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I live next to Fletcher park. And I agree with the majority of people on here – the park is rarely never in use. You’re just flat out incorrect. It is always full of people, pick up games, pets, and children – to the point that the band, make-out, underage smoking, and lacrosse practices make it too crowded and scrape a little luster off of a beautiful inner city park. (That along with the homeless using the picnic shelter as their shower/bedroom from time to time – but we can save that for another post)
Nothing in any proposal listed here looks to be long term enough to support even half of the eligible drivers of BHS. There is a large wooded lot next to the baseball field that would be able to support a parking deck along with the front lawn. Fine, but even then it is only as good as the amount of people eligible to drive vs. able to park – and the numbers included in this ratio will continue to grow. So, let go of the rope. Stop playing to tug-o-war. Nothing says that going to any school requires students to drive. That school is special and needs better policy makers. Sounds like North Carolina to me – lets throw some money at it and see what that does.
It is an inner city MAGNET school. The students applied and chose to go there. There is no reason that the children can’t be required (by the school’s administration and parents) to use alternate forms of transportation or carpool instead of negatively impacting the surrounding neighborhood. Especially, if a free infrastructure is available for them.
Just a matter of a large portion of the people involved not using their heads and not creating policy that alieviates the problem.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Or they could just increase the cost for parking permits to a high enough level most students prefer the bus or can’t afford a permit unless it’s split amongst friends.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
It’s nice to think that we can get hundreds of people to not drive to school by encouraging carpooling, etc, but the realistic problem here is that the school is down to SIXTY spaces. There were plenty of spaces when I was there. Unfortunately the historic commission and the city have forced this issue on the school.
This just came in from one of the school’s teachers:
“What those opposed to the parking lot don’t know is that half of the front yard is ALREADY paved. They propose putting in the parking deck across the street at 14 million dollars??? Who will pay for that? The lacrosse team and band will be moved to the front yard, and lacrosse will require nets and fencing to keep balls from going into street and hitting cars. That will sure look nice.
“I have seen the design and it is wonderful; shrubs, trees, landscaping such that you would never even know the parking lot was there when you drove past.”
September 10th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
“…could just increase the cost for parking permits to a high enough level most students prefer the bus or can’t afford a permit unless it’s split amongst friends.”
Great idea. Sounds like a policy that should be enacted to pay for a large scale parking deck for future growth. While promoting car pooling and other modes of transportation.
“The lacrosse team and band will be moved to the front yard, and lacrosse will require nets and fencing to keep balls from going into street and hitting cars. That will sure look nice.”
I think that is a wonderful point by the teacher. Shifting events from one field on Fletcher to the front lawn of the school negates itself – a field is a field. The only difference is that the fields in Fletcher are part of a living breathing neighborhood and the front lawn of the school is next to a major road – bad for anyone using it (or driving past it).
“What those opposed to the parking lot don’t know is that half of the front yard is ALREADY paved.”
Excellent. What is paved already expand slightly and build up.
Think we have a proposal. Somebody call the Planning Commission.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
The simplest solution, which happens to be the hardest to implement is the behavioral change. Do so many students Really need to drive to school? Broughton is not that different from NC State down the street, not all students can be accommodated with a parking space and have to make other arrangements. i wonder what the ratio of parking spaces to students & staff it at NC State compared to that of Broughton. The neighborhoods around NC State also have parking permit requirements for on street parking to keep students from taking up all the parking for residents, maybe this is also needed around broughton, if parking is an issue for residents nearby.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:00 am
How do schools in Philadelphia, New York and Boston ever survive without parking? Easily with the use of Mass Transit. If we can’t even get kids, who rode the bus not too long ago, to adapt the to the use of Mass Transit how will it work for the rest of us? A majority of Broughton non-magnet Students I would say live with 1 mile of a bus stop. It is free for all University Students and Government Workers to use CAT so extend that to anybody with a High School I.D. If students have to drive then they can park at a remote location and ride the bus a short distance to school.
Oh and how are trailers on the front lawn of Broughton better than a parking lot? SERIOUSLY?
September 11th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
There is a distinct inverse relationship of student involvement in extracurricular activities and students who rely on the one bus connection in the afternoon. One of the reasons Broughton is special is because of its active students.
We live in Raleigh (instead of Phiily, NYC, and other places) because we CAN use our cars. If we couldn’t we’d probably move somewhere else.