New Building at SJHHS Announced
Parking will be impacted in the short-run
The new building will be located behind the “C” building and eliminate most parking in that lot. The roundabout will be removed to add additional spaces.
A new building will be added to SJHHS in what is now a student parking lot, temporarily reducing the amount of available parking for the 2016-17 school year.
The project, executed in phases, will begin this summer and the building will be ready for the 2018-19 school year, according to district officials.
The building will be two-stories with 12 classrooms on each floor, a total of 24 classrooms. All of the classrooms will have indoor entrances, unlike our current H Building where students enter from outside.
Two other high schools, Tesoro and San Clemente, will also get the same structure added to their campuses.
The purpose of the new buildings are to even out the populations at the surrounding schools. San Juan Hills is expected to gain 300-400 additional students over the next few years after the road to La Pata opens up, according the Jennifer Smalley, SJHHS Principal.
“By putting classrooms at our school, San Clemente, and Tesoro High School they’re hoping that [students] will be able to go where the want to go,” said Smalley.
The first phase involves tearing out the round-a-bout and creating additional parking there. The current student parking lot behind the C building will be closed off to students during the construction.
Naturally student parking will be impacted in the next few years, but after construction is completed there will be a total of 80 new parking spots over what we have now, according to district projections.
“Even though we will loose spots during construction, at the end of the project we will gain 80 new parking spots,” said Darrin Jindra, Assistant Principal.
But if the classrooms fill to capacity it could expand the size of the school by over 700 students, according projections made by The Express, leaving many wondering where students and teachers will park.
One solution currently being explored is an arrangement with The LDS Church, who bought the parcel of land near the baseball field. CUSD is currently in talks with the church to share parking lots, with students using LDS lots during the week and LDS members using SJHHS lots on Sundays and perhaps other days.
However, construction of the church is not slated to begin in time to meet the current need for additional parking.
Additionally, the La Pata Gap Closure (the road between SJHHS and Talega) is supposed to open next fall, right at time when parking will be short supply due to the new construction.
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Gabriela • Nov 4, 2015 at 10:25 PM
This is one of the consequences of overbuilding and overpopulation. The schools begin to suffer as do the students. Too many kids in the classrooms, too!!
BAD, BAD PLAN!!
Deanne Duplissey • Sep 17, 2015 at 9:11 AM
I have currently spoken to City council and Engineering about the La Cougue Trail needing attention. This Bldg project seems to warrant it more than ever since it may be more heavily used in the future.
Needs I see:
Extend the trail from the school down the street that would lead to a staging area for pick up.
The trail is hot on many days and the kids tend to congregate under shady trees. The most popular one is at an entrance to one of the neighborhoods which leads to traffic congestion at their front exit/entrance gate.
This trail would need to have retainer walls built, so not a cheap project I understand. I say this because at the moment, if folks are following the parking signs and only parking on the one side this makes it possible for everyone parked on the that side to make a “One-Step U- Turn”, safely done this gets cars out quick so now the road is clear and there are not cars clogging up the road making a second or third step to u-turn out.
The kids off the road would allow folks to pull out and leave quicker so that new cars can come and pull off the center of the road on to the side.
I repeat that a staging area would be very helpful , please with shade and if possible a drinking fountain.
My interest is to keep the neighborhood happy as we grow at SJHHS with increasing populations using Lacougue and more personally that I will be using that important road for pick up for the next 8 years.
I am glad that SJHHS families use LaCougue for the following reasons: it saves me time, does not add to traffic on Ortega nor at the school when on occasion I do travel all the way to the school and certainly less pollution for driving much less and not sitting in the bumper to bumper up La Pata. Not to mention the gas/$ our family saves. The trail also allows me to return home and spend time with my Marco student before we need to leave for school. If we had to drive all the way to SJHHS I would have little to no time in between drop offs.
With the Bldg Project in the works I will definitely make an appt to speak to the proper engineer in charge of trails, I believe it is Joe Mankawich 949-487-4313 [email protected] .
If the school can also bring up this needed project to keep the citizens in the neighborhood happy with our growing number of students, that would be greatly appreciated and helpful to see progress there also.
Pearl Rothman • Sep 16, 2015 at 4:08 PM
Would it be possible to ask the church if we could clear the land and use it as a make-shift parking lot in the meantime? It would not be ideal but cars are parked on dirt lots all the time and the area is quite huge….???
Liam James Childs • Sep 16, 2015 at 3:45 PM
I do like this idea very much, however, what is the plan for the students that drive while the parking spots are unavailable? Does the capability still remain for all of the seniors and half the juniors (who are able to drive) to fit in the spaces? Is it possible while adding an additional 80 spaces, that we add even more than that? Considering our school was mapped out with a fair lack of parking spots, I do not think the general reaction to this will plan will be positive.
-Liam Childs, Junior
Beth lee • Sep 16, 2015 at 3:15 PM
That is rediculous that the construction will start in the fall. The construction should be started over the summer when it will impact the students less of the time.
Ted Mercer • Sep 16, 2015 at 3:00 PM
This is one of the consequences of overbuilding and overpopulation. The schools begin to suffer as do the students. Too many kids in the classrooms, too much traffic on La Pata, a lack of parking and more congestion…bad bad.