A group of Brow of the Hill residents is worried a proposed new elementary school in New West will make an already bad traffic situation worse.
Residents living near Fraser River Middle School are concerned about plans for a new elementary school on the same property at the corner of Eighth Street and Queens Avenue, adjacent to Simcoe Park.
They’re worried about the effects on traffic on their street and on their ability to use the park.
A group of residents met with the Record on Queens Avenue on a recent Friday afternoon at the end of the school day to draw attention to the chaos that ensues on their street during drop-off and pickup hours — with cars double-parking, blocking resident driveways, pulling illegal and unsafe U-turns, and, in some cases, with drivers growing hostile with each other.
Craig Asselstine, who lives on Queens Avenue opposite the school, said the situation has become untenable for residents over the past few years, and it’s only getting worse. The thought of another 600-student school on the block has him dreading what lies ahead.
“Consider, there will be 1,200-plus kids descending on this block, five days a week, and their parents,” Asselstine pointed out, noting everything is compounded in bad weather, when more parents drive their children to school.
The residents can share countless stories of current problems in the block between Eighth and Ninth streets.
Over and over, they’ve seen near misses as students dash across the street in the midst of the traffic chaos. In one case, a neighbour in the apartment building across the street witnessed a fistfight as parents got out of their cars in the middle of the street. In another, a resident was unable to get out of her driveway to get to an important medical appointment that she’d scheduled months in advance.
Approaching drivers to ask them not to block driveways or park illegally, they say, often leads to hostile reactions.
“We’re not anti-school. But this chaos is too much,” Asselstine said. “It’s going to double, and I know the NIMBY word is going to be thrown around, but nobody would be OK with this. None of the teachers, none of the people in the school board office and nobody calling us NIMBY would be OK with what we have to deal with, seven days a week.”
Though the problem peaks on weekdays during drop-off and pickup times, weekends bring their own share of problems when groups rent out the school for various activities and parking overflows onto the streets.
On top of the traffic issues, residents say daytime use of the park by schools limits their own access to its tennis courts and their one community greenspace.
Residents Leslie Fawkes and Christine Vickers point out the problems are only going to increase as the city’s downtown and waterfront develop, and more families move into existing and future towers — meaning more parents will end up driving their students up the hill to the future elementary school and the middle school.
They’re all quick to acknowledge the need for the schools in fast-growing New Westminster — “how can I say no to a school?” Vickers said — but say the future school plan should be rethought.
They’ve met with both members of the New Westminster school board and Mayor Patrick Johnstone about the issues they facing. They’re hoping that, as plans for the new school unfold, they’ll also hear from MLA Jennifer Whiteside and Education Minister Rachna Singh, whom they have also written to about the situation.
While they’d love to see the new elementary school on a different property altogether, they recognize that may not be an option.
Fawkes suggested the new school should be built in a different spot on the property — not next to Fraser River Middle School on the Queens Avenue side, but behind it on the Eighth Street side instead.
Regardless of where they new school is built, they say some solutions are needed for traffic.
They’d like to see permit parking only on the residential side of Queens Avenue, with school pickup and drop-off on Eighth Street instead. They’d also like to see enforcement of the area and possibly some form of traffic control using the white pylons that have been appearing around the city.
Ultimately, they say, they want to find a way for the residents and the schools to co-exist in harmony.
Figuring out a way to make that happen, Fawkes said, shouldn’t be up to the residents.
“I can just envision that it hasn’t been thought out very well at all,” she said. “And really, you know, these (solutions) are what these people get paid the big bucks for.”
School District 40 responds to residents’ concerns
The Record reached out to the New Westminster school district for a response to the residents’ concerns.
The district noted staff and trustees met with the residents and shared information about the “significant capacity needs” of the district and why it needs the new elementary school.
“The plans for the new elementary school are still being worked on, and we are committed to continuing our conversations with all of those in the community throughout this process,” said an emailed statement from the district.
Can the new elementary school be built somewhere else?
SD40 said it explored other options for the new elementary school — including different sites and a different location on the existing site — but found this is the only feasible option. It said the Eighth Street side of the site is “too complex” for building.
“The reality is that this is a high-growth area that desperately needs a new school, given the growth in the Fraser River zone, and this is the site that best meets the needs of the community,” the district said.
What is being and can be done about traffic congestion?
“When it comes to the newly proposed school, we will engage a traffic consultant as part of developing our business case analysis of the new elementary school, which is a city requirement that will inform parking needs as well as pickup and drop-off areas,” SD40 said.
As far as the existing Fraser River Middle School is concerned, the district is continuing to work with parents and staff “to remind drivers to be respectful of the neighbourhood and the rules around stopping and parking.”
The district is also gathering feedback on a Walking School Bus option to encourage more non-car options.
“If we’re successful in building a new school, we will continue to evaluate the overall needs of both schools within the Simcoe campus, including evaluating pickup and drop-off times to reduce the local impact of this needed investment in our community,” it said.
What role does the City of New Westminster play?
The school district notes it works with the city on parking-related issues. It said traffic and parking are a city issue, and the community should contact bylaw enforcement when there are issues.
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