Parking area. Appears to be more than the CUP specified 8 vehicles.
No CUP specified vegetative screen blocking view from neighboring property, where photo was taken.

Overflow parking for school on meadow. Going all the way up to our property line.

Wide view of overflow parking. Shows lack of any CUP specified vegetative screen between school / parking / play area and neighboring property (from where the photo was taken)

Carden patrons parking on island center. Facing East. Note SUV on right is blocking access to our adjacent property.

Carden School overflow parking on Island Center Road, facing West from school entrance.

Snapshot of Exhibit 66 from CUP. The landscaping along the driveway, school, play area and parking areas depicted in the drawing was never planted. It appears that the CUP directed landscape plan was never submitted.

The entrance driveway does not appear to be 20' wide (as CUP specifies) as it does not allow 2-way traffic. There does not appear to be a circular drive at the end, enabling 2-way traffic (as CUP specifies). The CUP specified stop-sign is not prominently placed or marked. The driveway apron is not paved as the CUP seems to specify.

Snapshot of high activity at pickup time, 3pm. Does not appear to be much effort toward enabling carpooling as outlined in CUP.

Accidentally closed this issue.

Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention. The Code Compliance Officer is investigating the matter. Findings will be posted here. If you have further questions or concerns, please e-mail Code Compliance at gvause@bainbridgewa.gov.

South side of Carden School playground area. Note no CUP visual screen between playground and neighboring property from where the photo was taken.

North side of Carden School playground area. Note not visual screen. All playground activity is in full view of neighboring property from where the photo was taken.

Note, this portion of the playground area does appear to be used as a circular drive during dropoff / pickup times. Not clear if this meets the CUP circular drive specifications, but wanted to note.

This situation is still under investigation. When an update is available, it will be noted here

This issue has been re-opened at the request of the Code Compliance Officer.

This situation is still under investigation. When an update is available, it will be noted here

Thank you for the update. As a data point, since September, the problem with overflow parking up and down Island Center Road has continued, as has the impact of the school's full operations being fully visible from the adjoining property.

This situation is still under investigation. When an update is available, it will be noted here.

This situation is still under investigation. When an update is available, it will be noted here.

This situation has been turned over to the City attorney.

To Update: The issues with Carden School not adhering to the conditions of their zoning variance have continued throughout the school year. Just yesterday, they had an event at the school where over 20 patron’s vehicles were parked in the meadow between their non-compliant driveway and our property. This is one of the places where the CUP directs the school to install vegetative landscape screening. So far, the school has declined to install the screening, as they seem to prefer to use the space for livestock grazing and overflow parking.

I have summarized my observations where the school seems to be ignoring the conditions of their conditional zoning variance. All of these issues have impacts on the neighborhood, have persisted for many years, and are especially impactful on myself as the nearest neighbor.

1) Vegetative Landscape Screening – None of the specified zones for screening have been installed. I cannot avoid seeing the full drop-off, recess, lunch, recess, pickup, teacher in/out, and vendor activities from my kitchen window and front yard every day that the school is in session. In the winter months, the neighbors and I get blinded by the unblocked lights of all the cars they park there. The school uses the space where the screening was supposed to be installed for overflow parking and outdoor school activities, to the point where they are at arm’s length from our property.

2) 20’ Driveway – In addition to being clearly stated in the CUP, I believe this is required by code. The school’s driveway is much narrower, and doesn’t allow for 2-way traffic. The result is that patrons doing drop-off and pickup have to “stage” their vehicles on Island Center once the one-way driveway fills up. This results in congestion on Island Center, and forces vehicles passing through to “thread the needle”. This unsafe situation occurs on a daily basis. There also may be fire code implications.

3) Parking, number of vehicles – The CUP seems to specify parking for 8 vehicles. In practice, the school has more than 8 vehicles parked there just about any time, with about triple that number during drop-off/pickup, and about 5x that number during events

4) Parking, location – The school uses their playground, meadows, driveway, and Island Center road for parking. This does not seem to comply with the CUP’s directive that a specific parking area be defined, properly built, and used just for that purpose. Impact number one is that that their patrons parking on Island Center sometimes block access to our property, despite our gate being well-marked. The “thread the needle” impact on Island Center traffic has already been mentioned. Additionally their vehicles are a visual nuisance due to the lack of screening, and a physical nuisance when they park up against our fence. There may be environmental implications as well.

5) Paved Driveway Apron – In the CUP, and then in multiple documents over the years I observe the city directing the school to pave their driveway apron. To-date, the school has declined to do so. The impact is that gravel from all their traffic skittles out onto Island Center, creating a nuisance for pedestrians, and a safety issue for cyclists. There may be environmental implications as well.

6) Circular Drive – The CUP specifies a circular drive for pickup/dropoff. It appears that the parking area / playground area is used as a makeshift circular drive. Whether it is compliant or not doesn’t seem to matter, as the bottleneck from the narrow driveway prevents the flow that a circular drive presumably was specified to enable. The impact is that traffic is “staged” on Island Center and comes in “bursts” when the one-way driveway clears. The result is a decrease in safety for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

7) Stop Sign at end of Driveway – While seemingly a minor item, the school has declined to install a proper stop sign as specified by the CUP, choosing instead to place a small rectangular sign with roughly 5” letters at the junction with Island Center. Their patrons rarely stop on their way out. I have observed numerous near-misses of pedestrians, animals and vehicles.

As a contrast, when hosting events, the school places multiple, large, colorful signs alerting local walkers not to enter their private drive.

8) Carpooling – There was much discussion in the CUP around carpooling, along with many promises by the school. My observation is that the school currently has zero, or near-zero levels of carpooling, especially when vehicles carrying multiple siblings are considered.

Picture of the Carden school's staging area congestion on Island Center.

Picture of a BI Public School Bus "threading the needle" on Island Center Road as it swerves through the congested staging area in front of Carden School.

Picture of school from our kitchen window. This is a typical baseline view of what we see every day, all day. The density and activity increases significantly during recess, gym-class, and pickup. This would all be screened from our view if the school would install the landscaping that they're supposed to, per their conditional zoning variance.

Updates on point #7 (stop sign at end of driveway) above:

1) current colorful signs provide direction to "Walkers" to park in the meadow that abuts our property (one of the places where the landscape screening is supposed to be planted).

2) the actual height of the letters on the current stop sign are 3".

The school's implementation of the CUP-directed stop sign at the driveway junction with Island Center Road. Letters are 3" high.

Gravel on Island Center Road from the school's unpaved driveway apron.

Updated with proper orientation.

Update: The school have recently begun posting colorful signs at their events directing patrons to not park on Island Center Road. This considerate step is certainly much appreciated.

Update from next-door neighboor: After daily observation for the month of April 2018, I can report that nothing has changed since reported last Spring. The school continues to appear to be in violation of all of it's Conditional Use Permit (CUP) zoning conditions mentioned above.

Especially annoying is the fact that they have continued to refuse to install vegetative screening between their operation and our property. Given that this is the planting season, it would be a great time for them to start to honor their commitment by planting some mature laurels between their parking / playground areas and our property.

It is also disconcerting that they have not addressed the in/out flow of their operation with proper widths of entrance roads and internal holding areas. Given that they have over 7 acres, it seems inappropriate that they would impose on the neighborhood to stage parking for their patrons.

Thank you for your help in addressing these zoning inconsistencies.

Info was passed on to comp.