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June 30, 2009
Dear Mr. Franklin
The attorney representing Manara attempted to diffuse resident's concerns by focusing on the
Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) which was commissioned by the school. The TIA was funded by
and paid for by the school. The engineering firm that was retained to provide that service to the
Academy provided a favorable report for their client. The TIA makes several significant
assumptions that are entirely favorable to Manara Academy. Some of these are listed below:
The TIA discusses a 2 stage (and ultimately 3 stage) pick up process but there is no mention that
in the AM everyone comes at the same time. The TIA glosses over the fact that parents tend to
disregard the arrival times and everyone comes at the same time to pick up their children and
everyone parks on the street as they wait. Stay-at-home moms (or dads) show up at least 20
minutes (monitor any elementary or middle school in Coppell for basis) before the dismissal bell
and park their cars in a choice (shaded) space to wait and do some reading.
Busing for a private school has been shown to be a marginal proposition at best since students
can come from a wide geographic area. They indicate a projected busing rate of between 25 to
30 percent. As proof, they state that one Dallas Charter school has up to 50 percent busing rate
without offering any specifics as to why that is so. A reasonable estimate for Manara (based on
similar schools in Dallas County) would be 15% based on their claimed wide coverage of the
geographical area. Where are the statistics to substantiate their claim? Have they provided
comparable busing rates for the nearly private schools as a comparison? Certainly those private
schools in Coppell, Lewisville, Carrollton and Plano would be appropriate to use as a model for
bus rates. In addition, it would be beneficial for the city to consider schools such as Universal
Academy in Coppell, the Prince of Peace and Carrollton Christian Academy in Carrollton, and
Prestonwood Baptist in west Plano before unconditionally granting acceptance of the submitted
TIA.
The engineering firm that produced the TIA provides a trip assignment that~is very generous to
Manara. They project that 50 percent of the income and outgoing traffic will use Sandy Lake at
Heartz. This is not a reasonable assumption as you would easily estimate that parents coming
from surrounding communities would get to this school via the President George Bush Tollway
and exiting at Sandy Lake or via SH 121 and exiting on Denton Tap or MacArthur and then
coming on Sandy Lake. It is very reasonable to estimate that Sandy Lake would carry at least 75
percent of the schools traffic. The TIA also places a relatively high traffic load on Bethel School
Road; however, based on the wide disperstion of students that Manara is claiming, a more
reasonable estimate for Bethel School Road would be 20°Io at most..
These assumptions that were made to favor Manara also calls into question the entire
mathematical basis for the report. For example, under the 350 scenario, they predict 85 right
turners from Sandy Lake in the morning, with the more realistic traffic assignments, those would
number 102. The TIA predicted 175 left turners from Sandy Lake to Heartz, but 201 is more
realistic. To compound that, under the 500 scenario, their TIA shows 108 right turners and but
should be closer to 132. The TIA also shows 194 left turner from Sandy Lake and but that
number should be closer to 227. At 227 lefts per hour, the cars now potential begin to queue out
of the left turn bay or storage lane and potential queue out into the travel lanes of WB Sandy
Lake Road creating the potential for rear end accidents. The city engineer discounted these
concerns at the Planning and Zoning Commissioner meeting on May 22, but has the council
asked him he conducted a sensitivity analysis for the data in the TIA to determine the level of
confidence in the assumptions made by Manara's funded study?
On page 23, the TIA addressed how traffic will arrive and stack or queue up as they drop off and
pick up. They show this elegant and somewhat complex traffic management plan which is great
on paper. In reality, the teachers that are implementing the plan usually have classroom
assignments, special projects and other educational related concerns first and foremost on their
minds and the Traffic Management Plan is usually just a last minute thing. From what I've seen
at elementary and middle schools, traffic control is usually a free for all on the first day and
hopefully by the end of the 2nd week most schools get their act together but that does not
always happen From a Traffic Management Plan standpoint, it is very reasonable to expect that
the parents will short circuit the queuing line since it double backs. What about the drop offs for
the that parents, particularly of the little ones, (K to 1), who will frequently park and walk in the
children into class? Has Manara created a solid plan for parking lot safety?. This creates
significantly more back up as these parents stop, get out and walk in their children. They also
spend 3 to 5 minutes or longer talking to their children's teacher which takes the teacher away
from monitoring the traffic plan which leads to longer queue. It would be very easy to justify a
traffic queue on Heartz to extend 200 to 300 feet during the morning drop off and afternoon pick
up times.
It is very reasonable to expect the majority of the traffic to use Sandy Lake instead of Heartz.
The greater amount of traffic on Sandy Lake at Heartz would need additional turn lanes to
mitigate the impact on the intersection. The most efficient way to mitigate the traffic is to add a
right turn lane and expand the left turn lane on Sandy Lake. Is the city prepared to purchase at
10 feet by 200 feet of property from the corner lot at Heartz and Sandy Lake?
Thank you for your time and re-consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Wes Mays