City, School Board Seek Solutions for Waverly Heights’ Traffic Woes

Seeking to end a long-running conflict between school officials and residents, elected officials Monday night considered putting in speed bumps and moving classes to cut down on traffic congestion near Conejo Valley Adult School.

At a rare joint meeting of the Thousand Oaks City Council and Conejo Valley Unified School District trustees, officials sought a compromise between residents who say the adult school has brought speeding cars, noise and pollution, and school representatives who say they have already taken steps to help solve the traffic problem.

The conflict centers on a winding, tree-lined stretch of Waverly Heights Drive near the school at 1025 Old Farm Road. Neighbors said heavy traffic on the road has decreased their quality of life.

“Volumes of traffic, congestion, pollution, life-threatening speeds. . . . The prospect of disaster is ever present,” said Sal Terrusa, who lives on Waverly Heights Drive.

“Most of my neighbors are late getting here tonight, because they couldn’t get out of their driveways,” said Thomas Goins, alluding to the traffic problem near his home.

But adult school administrators said they have tried to appease concerned neighbors through steps such as staggering class times and reminding students to drive safely.

“We have an open-door policy. We have always listened to calls and comments from neighbors,” said Dave Woodruff, principal of the school, which holds various adult classes from English as a second language to computer training.

*

The meeting at one point became so contentious that school board President Mildred Lynch slammed her gavel to quiet about 70 residents and adult school employees packed into the district’s board room. At the conclusion of the 2 1/2-hour session, the two boards reached an agreement aimed at reducing the number of cars that travel on Waverly Heights Drive and slowing them down.

Council members voted to direct city staff to poll residents along Waverly Heights Drive on the possibility of installing speed bumps. In turn, school board trustees said they would direct district staff to look at moving some adult classes to other sites within the district.

The city’s decision to poll residents came after Councilman Andy Fox asked for a show of hands in favor of speed bumps on Waverly Heights Drive.

When some in the audience--some of whom argued that the only long-term solution was for the entire adult school to relocate--showed lukewarm support for the speed bump idea, Fox suggested a poll of the entire neighborhood.

Exasperated, Fox said that if some sort of solution couldn’t be reached soon, he would have to tell residents, “I’ve done everything humanly possible.” Council members said they could vote on installing speed bumps within the next few weeks.

Lynch expressed similar frustration with Waverly Heights Drive residents, saying that some seemed bent on driving the school out, instead of reaching a compromise.

“You are not in my judgment asking for a solution,” she told residents. “You want this place wiped out, so it’s out of your neighborhood. . . . We cannot do that.”