Neighbors Seek Bus Dropoff Behind Town Hall

Parents from the Homestead Village who say the routing of buses through their neighborhood is a continuing danger, managed to persuade the to give a thumbs up to their suggestion that high school bus riders instead be dropped off at the municipal complex each morning for the rest of this school year.

But when they brought their case before the they received no answer — for now.

Mayor Mary Pavlini told a handful of residents who spoke on the issue on Tuesday that township officials will need time to discuss the idea before the next Township Committee meeting, scheduled for March 27.

On Monday, the residents had asked the Board of Education to "temporarily"  reroute the 27 high school buses from rear entrance to Ridge reached via the to instead drop off students behind the municipal complex at 1 Collyer Lane.

Students would then walk across an athletic field and through a parking lot to reach a back entrance to the high school. They now are heading along a walkway from the back of the Cedar Hill School to reach another entrance into the high school.

"You guys always have come to the help of our neighborhood in the past," said Grove Road resident Tom Krieck.

"You have all recognized the issue out there. It hasn't changed. It's still a safety issue," Krieck told the Township Committee of an influx of high school buses through Homestead Village to reach the Cedar Hill School since Feb. 1. At that time, the school district's administration implemented the rerouting of the school buses to try to alleviate traffic in the front of the high school, at South Finley Avenue and Lake Road.

But on Feb. 14, with residents offering applause and standing ovations, that while alternatives are being investigated, the school district should halt the rerouting of buses to Cedar Hill via narrow streets in Homestead Village. However, the school board, a separate governmental entity, did not comply with the township's request.

Since then, the residents acknowledged, the township and school officials have been working together to try to come up with a more long-term solution. The township's engineer already has met with school officials, and the Board of Education is considering hiring a traffic engineer to come up with a plan to separate buses and traffic on the high school property, school officials said on Monday.

"Hopefully, we will have a solution in September that will remove buses from Cedar Hill," School Board President Susan Carlsson said on Monday night.

The township is open to allowing further access through the health department property next door to the high school, where both properties face South Finley Avenue, for a wider access road for two-way traffic, Board Member Susan McGowan reported at Monday's meeting.

McGowan said the school board already had asked the township to send the Ridge buses through the municipal complex for now rather than through Homestead Village, and, "We were told no as well."

However, later in the meeting, the board voted to officially repeat that request.

On Tuesday, Homestead Village resident Brian Meagher told the Township Committee that continuing with buses through that neighborhood for the 60 to 65 remaining days of the school year is "not a liveable situation." He said cars heading to the alternate school entrance are still whizzing along neighborhood streets, and police presence has evaporated from the area.

Meagher asked the Township Committee not to wait until someone is injured in an accident to take buses off the neighborhood streets.

Another resident, Christina Ehret, said that the township's past actions gave the neighborhood a "ray of hope" when the school's administration had deemed that the rerouting of buses through Cedar Hill had been a success in lessening traffic at the front of the high school.

Ehret said the 27 buses heading to the high school cause far more of an impact on local streets, such as Peachtree Road, than the eight buses that carry children to the Cedar Hill Elementary School, which is within Homestead Village.

Members of the Township Committee did not comment on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, the school district asks that parents sign up by March 26 for paid bus service for the 2012-13 school year. Free busing is available for K to 8 students who live further than two miles away from the school they will be attending next September, and two and a half miles for high school students. Cost is $690 per student for those who live closer and wish to reserve a spot on the school bus. Sign up is online.