Why does a 300-student addition necessitate a 750-stall parking ramp?

At the school board’s recent work session, it became clear that the board believes that City High needs a 300-student addition, and that the board members can’t see any way to build that addition without closing Hoover Elementary and taking the entire Hoover property for City High.

This seemed odd, since the most popular scenario at the final community workshop, which hundreds of people attended, was Scenario 1c, under which City would build the addition and Hoover would remain open.  Scenario 1c also had lower first costs, lower life cycle costs, and lower operating and staff costs than the scenario that closes Hoover.

So what’s the objection to Scenario 1c?  The only objection I’ve heard is that Scenario 1c would build a parking ramp at City High.

It’s very questionable whether building such a ramp is the easiest way to expand City while preserving Hoover; it’s hard not to wonder whether it was included as a kind of “poison pill” to turn people off to that scenario.  (Judging from the results of the workshops, it didn’t work.)  But it raises another question as well: Why does a 300-student addition necessitate a 750-stall parking garage?

None of the scenarios specify where the addition will be built, so there is no assumption that it will displace existing parking.  But even if it does, does City really need 750 more parking spaces as a result?

As I understand it, the proposed ramp is actually a one-story deck.  If you cut the number of stalls in half, then, it’s no longer a ramp: it’s a parking lot.  (And no doubt much cheaper.)  So can we preserve Hoover and expand City simply by building a 375-stall parking lot?  It’s hard to believe that such a lot won’t be built anyway, even if Hoover is closed, except it will be where an elementary school used to be.

The idea that City needs 750 additional parking spaces again raises the question: how big will City be, once a third high school is built?  Under the scenario that closes Hoover, City will hold fewer than 1600 students.  It currently has over 1400 students.  So it needs 750 more parking spaces?

The more the rationales for Hoover shift – today I heard that one board member is saying that Hoover needs to be closed so City can have more space for athletic fields! – the more it seems like the decision came first and the ostensible reasons later.  The district’s families, and especially Hoover families, deserve better.

Chris Liebig blogs about local and national education issues at A Blog About School.  You can also follow him on Twitter.