Santa Fe Elementary School Expansion Project

Santa Fe Elementary School Expansion Project

The proposed project would expand the campus of Santa Fe Elementary School with the District acquisition of a 3.80-acre City-owned parcel (APN 261-150-056) and the construction of two new buildings (Building 700 and 800) to serve TK, preschool and kindergarten students, a new parking lot (“Parking lot 3”), and reconfigure Parking lot 2 which includes a new pickup/drop-off area. The proposed project would increase student capacity on campus by 275 transitional kindergarten, preschool, and kindergarten students at the Santa Fe Elementary School (SFES) campus, and this would increase SFES’s capacity from 816 to 1,091 students. To accommodate the increase in student capacity nine new staff members would be hired, and eight staff members would be relocated from other District campuses to SFES. Building 700 would be one story (approximately 18 feet and 8 inches in height) and would be located in the northwestern corner of the project site. Building 700 would consist of 5,823 square feet, the roof overhang would further shade 1,860 square feet of outdoor area. The building would consist of four preschool classrooms, five storage areas, 10 restrooms for the students, one staff restroom, four clean up areas, two teacher work rooms, a janitor area, and one area to house the buildings electrical components. Construction of building 700 would remove the existing walkway, benches, covered area, picnic tables, and playground adjacent to building 200A. In between buildings 700 and 200A, new walkways, new landscaping, and a new soft fall surface play area would be installed; the existing bike rack and existing metal fencing would remain. Building 800 would be one story (approximately 18 feet and 8 inches in height) and would be located in the northern side of the project site, north of building 200A. Building 800 would consist of 10,358 square feet; the roof overhang would further shade with 3,686 square feet of outdoor area. Six existing trees in the area would be removed along with the small concrete walkway and some of the existing fencing. The utility box and chain link baseball back stop, and benches would be relocated to other parts of the campus. Building 800 would consist of four TK and three kindergarten classrooms, eight student restrooms, one staff restroom, four clean up areas, nine storage areas, one janitor area, one area to house the buildings electrical components, and four teach work rooms. Additionally, new concrete walkways would be constructed on the western, southern, and eastern sides of the building along with new turf and landscaping and a soft fall surface play area adjacent to building 800. New chain link and decorative metal gates and fencing would also be installed on the western, southern, and eastern sides of the building. The existing Parking lot 2 driveway turnaround to the southeast would be reconfigured to connect to Howard Street. Towards the center of campus (the middle of parking lot 2), a new ingress-egress driveway would be installed leading to a parent pick-up/drop-off area to the west of building 700 with two one-way lanes, and would be bordered by a walkway to the north. Improvements to Parking lot 2 would result in a reduction of seven parking stalls compared to existing conditions. Five trash enclosures would be installed north of the reconfigured connection to Howard Street. Additionally, the proposed project includes new landscaping along Orange Avenue, restriping of the Parking lot 2, a new entrance sign, and existing sidewalk along Orange Avenue would be widened. The proposed project would construct a new parking lot (“Parking lot 3”) on the northwestern side of the project site, adjacent to building 700, with one ingress-egress driveway from parking lot 2 providing access to parking lot 3. Parking lot 3 would consist of 49 parking stalls, which would include two accessible parking stalls, one van accessible parking stall, one van accessible EV charging, one standard EV charging station, and five EV charging capable stalls. Compared to existing conditions, the proposed project would result in an increase of 42 parking stalls. The proposed project would maintain the existing hours of standard instruction. The proposed classrooms would also be utilized for the before-school and after-school Expanded Learning programs. The before-school Expanded Learning program would occur from 7:20 AM to 8:30 AM, expanded by 20 minutes from the existing end time at 8:10 AM. The after-school Expanded Learning program will run from 2:45 PM to 6:00 PM, consistent with the existing after-school program hours of operation. The construction of the proposed project would occur in one phase. Construction is anticipated to last approximately 12 months, with construction starting in 2025. Construction activities would include demolition, site preparation, grading, construction, paving and architectural coating and landscaping/finishes. As part of the construction activities, the proposed project would remove total of 37 ornamental trees. The District is the Lead Agency under CEQA and has the approval authority over the proposed project. Discretionary actions for the proposed project would include: (1) Exempt portion of parcel APN 261-150-056 being acquired by PUSD from the City of Porterville from local zoning; (2) adoption of the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration; (3) approval of the proposed project; and (4) adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.

Porterville

Tulare

Citywide, Southern California

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Education, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Transportation, District 6 (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Fresno Region 5 (RWQCB), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Historic Preservation, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights

Educational (Campus Expansion and Classroom)

Land Division (Subdivision, etc.), Redevelopment

Aesthetics, Agriculture and Forestry Resources, Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Cumulative Effects, Drainage/Absorption, Economics/Jobs, Energy, Flood Plain/Flooding, Geology/Soils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Growth Inducement, Hazards & Hazardous Materials, Hydrology/Water Quality, Land Use/Planning, Mandatory Findings of Significance, Mineral Resources, Noise, Population/Housing, Public Services, Recreation, Schools/Universities, Septic System, Sewer Capacity, Solid Waste, Transportation, Tribal Cultural Resources, Utilities/Service Systems, Vegetation, Wetland/Riparian, Wildfire