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Coos Bay Parks Commission critiques Alta draft Safe Routes to School plan, urges clearer priorities and stronger emphasis on Sunset School bus drop-off
Summary
The Coos Bay Parks Commission reviewed a draft Safe Routes to School plan from Alta Planning + Design and said the document did not clearly present the commission’s highest priorities, notably a previously recommended central bus drop-off between Madison and Sunset schools.
The Coos Bay Parks Commission reviewed a draft Safe Routes to School (SRTS) plan prepared by Alta Planning + Design during an April 3 work session and raised repeated concerns about the draft’s organization, missing emphasis on key priorities and unclear linkage between recommended projects and the ODOT SRTS construction-grant priorities.
Why it matters: The draft plan will be used to pursue ODOT SRTS construction grants later this year and to guide local improvements around Marshfield High School, Sunset School, Madison Elementary and other school zones. Commissioners said the plan must clearly highlight high-priority projects, provide usable cost breakdowns, and include visuals so priorities do not get lost as the document moves among agencies and grant reviewers.
Key criticisms and priorities: Commissioners and members of the project management team (PMT) said Alta’s draft contained useful options (striping, curb cuts, crossings) but was poorly organized and sometimes inconsistent with commission recommendations. The group repeatedly said the draft failed to prominently capture a previously supported idea: a centrally located bus drop-off reconfiguration between Madison and Sunset schools. Commissioners said that item drew broad consensus from the PMT and school representatives and that the draft did not present it as a clearly prioritized or costed project.
Commissioners identified the specific recommendations they had asked the consultant and PMT to prioritize: for Sunset School, recommendations listed as items 1, 15 and 26; for Marshfield High School, recommendations 8–12 (including 9.2) and 15. Commissioners asked Alta to present those items clearly as high-priority candidates for ODOT SRTS construction grants and to separate cost estimates for the Marshfield-area projects and Sunset-area projects rather than aggregating them in a single table.
Cost and grant questions: Commissioners said the draft’s cost tables and the short-hand notation of which items Alta had labeled as ‘‘ODOT SRTS construction grant’’ were unclear. Commissioners asked for a clearer explanation of why certain items were flagged as ODOT construction-grant priorities and how the back-of-envelope cost estimates tied to those flagged items. Staff explained the flagged items align with priorities the Parks Commission and PMT had previously identified, but commissioners requested the linkage be made explicit in the next iteration.
Process and next steps: Staff said the PMT is scheduled to meet with Alta on April 9 to discuss the draft and that commissioners should send written comments to staff so the commission can present a unified response. Commissioners asked to review an updated draft before it is finalized. Staff also noted the final plan will be delivered to the city and used to support construction-grant applications; the plan may also need integration with the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) prior to final grant work.
Other concerns and local details: Commissioners raised safety- and equity-related details they felt were under-emphasized in the draft, including a reported 58% poverty rate for Sunset School (mentioned in meeting comments), pedestrian-traffic conflicts around the high school (parking-lot egress and student lunchtime flows), street lighting during dark months, and specific crosswalk or pedestrian-protection needs on Seventh and Golden streets. A PMT member said some items in the draft may have been deprioritized or lost in translation between an initial site review and the draft submission.
Ending: Commissioners asked staff to collect consolidated written comments and requested another draft that (1) separates Marshfield and Sunset cost estimates, (2) highlights the Madison–Sunset bus-drop reconfiguration as a distinct high-priority project with a clear cost estimate, and (3) adds clearer visuals for prioritized projects. Staff will pass consolidated comments to Alta and seek a revised draft before finalization so the city can use the document to pursue ODOT construction grants this year.
