West Creek Academy has a traffic problem.
The school was envisioned and built as a neighborhood school for children of the Valencia villages of West Creek and West Hills. Problem is, the economy and a ten years worth of delays have slowed build-out of these two villages to a crawl. Nevertheless, Lennar completed construction on the $35M project earlier this summer. SUSD was eager to open a school competitive with charters/private/home school options and the site served as a solution for the now closed Bouquet Canyon & Emblem Elementary Schools.
SUSD estimates that only 80 of the 700+ WCA students are residents of West Creek/Hills.
The rest of the students are being trucked in from all over the valley, causing a horrendous backlog of cars stretching from West Creek’s campus on West Hills Drive to Copper Hill Drive, snarling traffic on the north SCV thoroughfare in the morning and afternoon hours.
Jessika, a West Hills resident and WCA parent, shared that some intrepid parents have found a way past West Hills’ gates, speeding down Coal Mountain Ct – the main artery in that community’s Castillo tract. ”I object to people parking and speeding in our community to avoid a traffic situation they’ve created by sending their kids to our neighborhood school.”
Admittedly, the first few days of any school opening – especially brand new schools like WCA – are going to be hectic. And the situation on Friday was improved from Thursday’s hellacious opening. But the nature of WCA’s enrollment is such that parents are driving from points all over the valley to shuttle their children to school.
And therein lies the rub for residents like Jessika: if it weren’t for these parents, WCA would still be mothballed.
The delays for both parents and commuters on Copper Hill are likely to continue unless a workable solution is developed. There is talk of alternative parking at a location near the fire station on Copper Hill, but nothing is definitive.
Parents with the time and initiative to bike or walk to WCA can utilize the paseo on the west side of the San Francisquito river (note: this is NOT the sweet San Francisquito Creek Trail). The south end of the paseo can be accessed from Newhall Ranch Road near the Tri Tipps BBQ parking lot . Another access point is at Decoro Drive adjacent the north end of Valencia HS.
Getting to WCA from the south end of the paseo, parents have two options: 1) the scenic path and egress at West Creek Park, or 2) go direct and suffer get a workout on the Decoro Drive hill, then take the Copper Hill sidewalk to WCA.
Of course, hitching a bike trailer up to take the little ones to school would be a rarity in SCV, but we offer this as a frustration-free, healthy and green alternative to your SUV.
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