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Neighbors urge district to abandon Bayside bus depot plan, cite safety and transparency concerns
Summary
Dozens of residents told the San Mateo-Foster City School District board they oppose placing a bus depot at Bayside Academy, raising safety, traffic, environmental and outreach concerns and asking trustees to remove the site from the district’s EV fleet list.
Dozens of Shoreview Parkside and East Side residents urged the San Mateo-Foster City School District board on Feb. 27 to abandon plans to locate a bus depot behind Bayside Academy, saying the proposal would worsen traffic, risk public safety and was developed with insufficient public notice.
At least eight residents spoke during the public-comment period, many describing Kehoe Avenue as narrow, built on soft landfill and already congested by school drop-off traffic. "I urge you to rethink the planned bus depot at Bayside Academy," said Cheryl Remedios, who identified herself as a long-time district employee and neighborhood resident, and said she had found little posted notice before learning of the plan on Nextdoor and in local media.
Speakers cited several objections: the weight and frequency of heavy vehicles on Kehoe Avenue, potential barriers to emergency access, added air pollution from diesel buses and the risk of lithium-battery fires in electric buses. Prakash B., who identified himself as a cancer biologist, warned that a projected 120–160 daily bus trips (21,600–28,800 per school year) would expose nearby children and residents to toxic diesel fumes and urged trustees to terminate the Bayside proposal.
Neighborhood association leaders also pressed for clearer communications. "This plan needs to be abandoned and taken off the table altogether," said Christina Herlitz, vice president of the Shoreview Parkside Neighborhood Association, citing an ordinance that restricts vehicles over 5 tons on Kehoe Avenue and asking the board to update its Bayside EV bus-fleet web page with the project's current status.
Other residents suggested practical alternatives to reduce neighborhood impacts. Tom Follin, who has lived on Kehoe Avenue for decades, proposed routing vehicles to 3rd Avenue or using a site adjacent to an existing sewage plant to avoid narrow residential streets.
District staff and trustees did not debate the Bayside plan in detail during the meeting; multiple speakers noted the city manager previously said the Bayside location had been put on hold. Trustees later requested a follow-up agenda item to respond to the community and invited staff to provide more information at a future meeting.
The public comment period illustrated strong neighborhood opposition and a demand for greater transparency from the district; board members asked staff to report back and scheduled a future discussion to allow trustees to respond to the concerns raised.
