Marjorie Bemergenstern, chair of the City–CUSD Joint Subcommittee, asked staff to prepare a formal design scope and return to the full city council with options for a permanent crosswalk at the rear of Jefferson Elementary School and short-term traffic-calming measures.
The proposal matters because parents, teachers and school staff have asked the city to open a safer route for younger students who currently cross Jefferson Boulevard; Public Works staff said the site requires ADA-compliant curb ramps and parking restrictions that make a simple paint-only fix impractical.
At the meeting Michelle Holden, principal at Jefferson Elementary School, said parents, the school site council and staff “have had parents on our school site council and, our teachers and staff, ask for a crosswalk there to open up access to Jefferson in the safe manner.” Public Works staff described engineering and regulatory limits that prevent a purely cosmetic solution. Derek Fontana, Public Works, said the location “violates pattern 2 of the ADA code. I checked 357151. And it also is in direct violation of the 2018, ADA compliance handbook,” and that adding a compliant crosswalk would require curb cuts, ramps and 20 feet of no‑parking on each approach.
Public Works showed the committee a map of the proposed alignment and explained that, because of ADA ramp geometry, the project would require removing on‑street parking in front of some homes and adding roughly 52 feet of red curb on the north side of the school driveway. Fontana warned that curb ramps and cut‑curb construction “get quite large when you start building these things and quite costly.”
Committee members discussed temporary mitigations while the permanent design proceeds. Fontana listed options the city could deploy quickly: radar trailers, removable rubber speed humps, high‑visibility raised pad “dot” strips and solar‑powered flashing signs. He noted noise and resident impacts from temporary speed devices and said enforcement and community outreach would be needed. “For temporary, I think as long as we're in alignment with temporary funding handbook, as long as we're aligned with city standards, I think we're fine,” Fontana said.
Chair Bemergenstern and others said the matter should be scheduled for the full city council so parents can comment. The subcommittee agreed staff should obtain a permanent design scope from WTrans that includes an ADA‑compliant crosswalk and a menu of temporary mitigations for the council to consider; staff will bring that scope back to council as a discussion item. No formal vote on design funds was taken at the subcommittee meeting.
The item concluded with staff and the school agreeing to outreach to neighbors and to present a staff report to the council; timing for installation was not specified.
Looking ahead, staff will deliver the WTrans scope and temporary‑mitigation options to the city council so elected officials can consider funding and timing.