The Palo Alto School Board will revisit designs for the renovation of football field bleachers due to concerns voiced by Palo Alto residents over the current design, which involves removal of 13 sycamore trees.
The bleachers will be renovated to increase their capacity and to correct their current noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Principal Jacqueline McEvoy and Athletic Director Earl Hansen emphasized the bleachers’ currently inadequate seating capacity at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
“Our current capacity is 1400 and the [facilities] committee was adamant that we didn’t reduce that and, if possible, increase it,” McEvoy said.
School Board Chair Barb Mitchell agreed that the bleachers required increased capacity.
“Paly is going to be the largest it’s ever been in the next four years and it’s going to continue to grow,” Mitchell said. “We need to prepare the site for these students.”
However, multiple residents voiced opposition to the removal of 13 sycamore trees lining the entrance to the Churchill parking lot as part of the renovation. One citizen even invoked the traditional French landscaping style of avenues lined with trees as a staple to urban planning.
Palo Alto resident Rega Wood implored the board to “preserve the great treasure that double alley of sycamore trees represents for the school district and for the city.”
All four board members present expressed their wish that the line of trees remain in their current location.
There is also a possibility that commencement of construction on Paly’s landscape master plan, including the construction of two new two-story classroom buildings, will be put on hold because of an unfinished renovation of the visitors’ bleachers.
California Department of State Architecture policy states that the DSA may not approve any new constructions until all other projects are “closed out,” or formally approved by the department. The current bleachers are not in compliance with the ADA and may therefore impede progress on other campus projects.
However, according to School Board member Barbara Klausner, the DSA does not consistently enforce this policy. Calling the application “intermittent,” Klausner said that Paly is “not currently under any mandate to replace the bleachers.”
However, Chief Business Officer Bob Golton encouraged the board to close out all remaining projects as a preemptive measure to prevent any compliance issues.
The School Board collectively requested alternative designs that retained the row of sycamores, increased capacity of the bleachers and matched the design scheme of the recently approved landscape master plan.