The city’s Technical Advisory Committee on Wednesday unanimously recommended a plan to build a new St. Patrick Academy off Banfield Road was ready to move to the Planning Board for site plan approval.
The approval included stipulations that the developers, the Hope for Tomorrow Foundation, work with city staff to consider adding a left-hand turn lane from Banfield Road into the new Catholic school property, and make sure that lights from the school don’t spill on to neighboring properties.
Eric Eby, a TAC member and the parking and transportation engineer for the city of Portsmouth, said he believes “a left-turn lane is warranted.”
“A left-turn lane is highly necessary to ensure safety and allowing traffic to move on Banfield Road during those peak hours,” Eby said during Tuesday’s meeting in City Hall.
Eby also raised concerns about whether there are enough parking spaces during afternoon pick-up time so parents picking up their children didn’t end up backed up on Banfield Road.
“I’m very concerned if we don’t have enough storage (parking) on site that we don’t have vehicles waiting to get in or parking out on Banfield Road, because there is no place to park on Banfield Road,” Eby said.
“This site being where it is, there are no other places for people to come and drop off their students except on the site,” he added.
He recommended that independent school officials needed to ensure there’s space for overflow parking or “widen the roadway to get double stacking.”
“It’s just a big concern of mine,” Eby said. “It’s a problem at many schools these days, the parking situation, parents like to drive their kids to schools.”
Engineer Eric Weinrieb, who represented school officials at the meeting, said at afternoon pickup the school will have about 30 extra spaces where staff and teachers park.
“We’re going to know the first week if it’s going to work or not,” he said. “If we do have issues with people, we’re going to put them in those parking spaces.”
