A parent’s complaint about transparency from city staff Tuesday prompted the Santa Clarita City Council to halt talk about the traffic pattern on Catala Avenue, next to Highlands Elementary School, where two children were struck by a car in May.
A city report explained the effort as trying to make the neighborhood safer for families during the school pickup and dropoff times. But council members’ concerns about the lack of a meeting with neighborhood parents prompted City Manager Ken Striplin to pull the item mid-discussion during Tuesday’s council meeting.
City officials said the school and the district supported the effort, which was referred to as an “interim” fix by a city engineer at one point during the discussion. However, a Saugus Union School District board member said while traffic improvements there were supported, the changes don’t go far enough.
The concern at Tuesday’s council meeting started with a virtual public comment from a woman named Donna, who identified herself as a Highlands Elementary School parent.
“After reviewing the resolution and reflecting on the dearth of communication with the families about the investigation and the development of this plan, I can’t speak to the specifics of the resolution, except to say that I have many questions, like implementing extended no-parking zones in the afternoon pickup from (noon) to 3 (p.m.), when at 12:25 (p.m.) at least 130 families will be picking up their TK and K students, where they have to park and walk to the gate to meet them at the teacher,” she said.
She also mentioned the first- to third-grade students who will have to do the same during the afternoon no-parking periods.
“So, these are questions I simply can’t reason my way through by reading the resolution, and I apologize if I’ve missed previous meetings on this,” she said.
The new parking and traffic rules would “establish a loading/unloading zone and a no-parking zone on school days only along the east side of Catala Avenue,” according to the agenda report from Joel Bareng, a city traffic engineer.
“This item considers adopting a resolution to establish a 270-foot loading/unloading zone and a 330-foot no parking zone between 7 and 8 a.m. and between noon and 3 p.m. on school days, only along the east side of Catala Avenue, south of Onlee Avenue,” according to Bareng’s report.
The idea behind the change is to improve pedestrian safety and maintain traffic flow in the neighborhood, according to the report.
The proposed restrictions would direct parents to queue along the easterly side of Catala Avenue, south of Empino Lane, and utilize the designated loading/unloading zone north of Empino Lane.
Donna mentioned she knew that parents had initially been the ones who brought concerns to the city, following an incident involving a child being struck in May.
Neither child was seriously hurt by the slow-moving vehicle, but it brought out a conversation about ongoing safety issues there, which school officials took to the city in June, which also was mentioned on the City Council agenda.
Bareng said Tuesday that in June, the city met with officials from the school site and the Saugus Union School District, who both signed off on the plan. He also said after the June meeting, there was information given to the schools for dissemination to parents. The agenda report indicated the school staff was in support of the move on the council’s agenda.
Saugus Union School District board member Chris Trunkey said he supported the changes to make the street safer, but he didn’t think they went far enough.
“At a minimum, curb extensions should be placed at the intersection of Catala (Avenue) and Empino (Lane), and speed cushions should be considered for the school zone on Catala,” Trunkey wrote in a text message Tuesday, prior to the meeting.
Council members Marsha McLean and Bill Miranda said Tuesday that they’d be in favor of a meeting with parents. McLean said she had a problem with the fact that there hadn’t already been one, which was part of Donna’s concern.
The changes were initially intended for approval Tuesday on the city’s consent calendar, which is for items approved in a group yes-no vote all at once, because the City Council does not anticipate discussion.
However, the street has been one local residents have expressed concern about in the past, particularly after two children were struck during the previous school year. Several complained that the situation has gotten worse in recent years.
The city responded that there wasn’t enough consensus to make change under the city’s rules, when residents asked staff to look at the concerns just over five years ago.
The incident in May happened around school dropoff time, which is usually very hectic for the school’s neighbors in the residential Saugus neighborhood just west of Saugus High School’s campus.
One witness reported seeing a Tesla legally parked on the street facing downhill, and then a driver, apparently a parent, double-parked facing the same way. There were two children in the passenger seat who hopped out and went around the vehicle and were then struck by a green SUV driving uphill away from campus.
Both children were taken from the scene via ambulance at approximately 8:20 a.m. and taken to Central Park in Saugus, where they were airlifted by helicopter, according to Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
Miller said the children had no life-threatening injuries.
Carrie Lujan, the city’s communications manager, confirmed a resident’s previous request for speed cushions on Catala Avenue was made in July 2021. In October of that year, the city conducted a survey of 62 households along Catala, but it failed to reach the threshold for the city, which is two-thirds of residents — only 53% were in favor, according to an email from Lujan.
