James Ambergi, a Richardson resident, told the City Council he is concerned the planned traffic pattern for the Apollo middle school rebuild will direct parent drop-off and bus egress onto Amherst Avenue, a small residential street that runs past his home.

Ambergi, who said he lives at 318 Amherst Avenue and has been a Richardson resident for about 35 years, described the plan shown on the school district's public drawing: parent drop-off would route behind the fire station and then exit onto Amherst Avenue, while buses would enter and make a sharp turn to drop students at the rear of the site. "I think it's a safety issue," Ambergi said, adding that the proposed egress would be "literally in front of my house" and would create congestion on Amherst, Syracuse and other small streets that previously did not carry through school traffic.

Ambergi said he reviewed the plan and compared it to other area schools, noting he could find no comparable egress that routed traffic in front of residences the way the proposed layout did. He told council members he did not believe parents would follow the routing shown on the map and instead would continue to use Apollo Road or park on nearby streets and cross to the school, increasing pedestrian interactions with moving vehicles.

He said the school board representative had told him on an earlier call that on-street parking rules would not change, but Ambergi said he remained skeptical because parked cars could block the turning movement of a bus entering or exiting the site.

Ambergi suggested an alternative: extending an existing parking/drive aisle to egress directly onto Apollo Road, which he said is designed for heavier traffic, and also noted a large parking lot at Huffines Park adjacent to the site that he believes could be used during school hours. He did not request a specific council action; he said he was speaking to raise the neighborhood's concerns about safety and nuisance impacts as the bond project proceeds.

The council did not take action on the matter at the meeting. Staff did not provide an immediate response on whether the district or the city would alter the design; Ambergi said he had discussed the plan previously with a school board representative. No formal city traffic study or recommendation was offered on the record during his remarks.