bishop professional development building proposed … · this traffic impact memorandum for the...

BISHOP PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUILDING Proposed Land-use Change & Parking Modification 3601 SW 31st Street Topeka, Kansas 66614 CFS Project No. 185077 Traffic Impact Memorandum May 22, 2018 Prepared for: Topeka Public Schools, USD #501 Burnett Administrative Center 624 SW 24th Street Topeka, KS 66611 785.295.3000

Prepared by:

Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers, P.A. 2930 Woodside Drive Topeka, Kansas 66614

785.272.4706

Traffic Impact Analysis - 05/22/18

Table of Contents

Review of Existing Site Conditions 2 Site’s Trip Generation and Design Hour Volume Data 6 Trip Distribution and Traffic Assignment 10 Existing and Projected Traffic Volumes 15 Capacity Analysis 15 Traffic Accident History 15 Internal Circulation and Parking 15 Needs for Pedestrians, Bicyclists, and Public Transit Users 16 Traffic Operations and Geometric Improvements 16 Summary and Recommendations 16

Appendix I - Exhibit Map and ITE Trip Generation Pages

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Review of Existing Site Conditions This Traffic Impact Memorandum for the proposed land-use change and parking modification for the Bishop Professional Development building at 3601 SW 31st Street, Topeka, Kansas, has been prepared at the request of Topeka Unified School District 501, in accordance with the City of Topeka's requirements. See Site Location Map below. The 13.43 acre site, including the adjacent Maude Bishop Park, is proposed to undergo modifications to add a new driveway access to connect to SW 33rd Street to the south and additional parking. The existing building has a total floor square footage of 34,123 sqft. The school building was constructed in 1965 with additional classrooms added in 2002.

↑N Site Location Map, Topeka, Kansas

Topeka's School District, USD 501, is planning to reopen the recently closed Bishop Elementary School building at 3601 SW 31st Street, Topeka, Kansas 66614 as a new supplementary school

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district office and teacher training facility called the Bishop Professional Development facility. This new facility will include small offices, a large gymnasium were teacher training events will take place, and a parking expansion to a total of 433 parking spaces (29 existing stalls plus 1 existing ADA accessible reserved stall plus 395 new regular stalls plus 8 new ADA accessible reserved stalls). The new site will supplement the current school district office, the Burnett Administrative Center, at 624 SW 24th Street, which has a staff consisting of business, communications, demographics, early childhood development, elementary learning, food, human resources, guidance and counseling, nursing, operations, school district attorney, special education, substitute, and superintendent services with 139 parking stalls with an additional 3 handicap reserved stalls. The new facility at 3601 SW 31st St will most likely have the same working hours as the Burnett Administrative Center, Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 4:30pm. Topeka Public Schools include 3 high schools, 6 middle schools, and 15 elementary schools with the last academic year enrollment of 14,044 students. Bishop Elementary was closed in summer of 2017 and the 311 enrolled students were moved to Jardine Middle School which was recently expanded to include space for an elementary school facility. Students included pre-kindergarten to 5th grade. The elementary employees that previously worked at the old Bishop Elementary included 26 teachers and 15 administration/support staff. Below is the image displaying the old attendance boundary of the closed Bishop Elementary School.

Old Attendance Boundary for Bishop Elementary School (Closed)

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The existing building has two northern driveways which form a circulation drive; the circulation drive is currently marked to travel in the counterclockwise direction only. The Northeast Driveway will be converted from an exit only driveway to provide both entry and exit access. There will be an extended 24 ft wide driveway connecting SW 31st Street to SW 33rd Street to improve internal circulation and reduce congestion with the parking lot. The site layout plan is shown below and includes a new dumpster location and truck loading location.

↑N Site Layout Plan

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Along the east side of the property is Maude Bishop Park which has a swing set, rotating platform, and fence backstop for baseball games. Park hours, 6:00am to 11:00pm, will not change as a result of the improvements. Park facility improvements are not included in this plan although the internal access drive and several parking spaces will be within the park parcel of land. The elementary school’s basketball courts and playground equipment that is currently conflicting with the location of the planned parking will be removed. Area Street and Highway Network: The existing streets around the site include:

● SW 31st St – Two-lane residential street. ○ Speed limit of 30 mph.

● SW 33rd St – Two-lane residential street. ○ Speed limit of 30 mph.

● SW 30th Terr – Two-lane residential street. ○ Speed limit of 30 mph.

● SW Arnold Ave – Two-lane residential street. ○ Speed limit of 30 mph.

● SW Stone Ave – Two-lane residential street. ○ Speed limit of 30 mph.

● NW Driveway – Northwest access. ○ 20 ft wide entry and exit access point.

● NE Driveway – Northeast access. ○ 24 ft wide entry and exit access point.

Several signs along the surrounding street network should be removed due to the changing land-use. On SW 31st Street, SW 33rd Street, and SW 30th Terrace, the posted speed limit of 20 mph (during school days from 8:00am to 9:00am and from 3:15pm to 4:15pm) signs should be removed as well as the “end school zone” signs. On Arnold Avenue, the electronic flashing posted speed limit of 20 mph (when flashing) signs and equipment should be removed as well as the “end school zone” signs. The two “do not enter” signs (during school days from 3:15pm to 4:15pm) on SW 31st Street should be removed as well as the turning restriction signs (during school days from 3:15pm to 4:15pm) on SW Arnold Avenue. The “exit only do not enter” sign at the northeast driveway should be removed. “No parking” signs, “student loading/unloading” signs, and “school crossing” signs should be removed if no longer applicable. Surrounding Land Uses and Building Density: For the site, two parcels are impacted by the improvements but only the old elementary parcel will have a change in land-use. The parcel ID 1461402012002000 for the closed elementary school is 7.92 acres and has a current land use of 6121-Elementary, and the parcel ID 1461402012001000 for the 5.51 acre Maude Bishop Park has a land use of 9910-Residential highest and best use. The building footprint is 34,123 sq ft for

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the 7.92 acre parcel which yields a building density of approximately 10%. For the proposed change in land-use, the building footprint will not change. A Church is located to the south of the site on a 2.63 acre site. The parcel ID is 1461402018002000 which has a current land use of 6610-Church / place of worship. Surrounding the rest of the property is the Twilight Hills neighborhood in southwest Topeka. These properties have a current land-use of 1101-Single family residence (detached). See Parcel Map below.

↑N Parcel Map

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Water Conflicts: The FEMA FIRM Panel 20177C0213E indicates that the site is not located within the 100-year and 200-year flood limits. As the parking lot is expanded, the water conflicts will not be increased. Existing Relevant Transportation System Management Programs:

1. 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan, April 2012, published by Metropolitan Topeka Planning Organization

2. 2016 Topeka Pedestrian Master Plan 3. The Topeka Bikeways Master Plan

Existing Alternative Transportation Mode Choices: There are sidewalks along both sides of SW 31st Street, SW 30th Terrace, and SW Arnold Avenue. SW 33rd Street has a sidewalk on the northern side of the street with a segment of sidewalk along the southern side of the street in front of the church. SW Stone Avenue has a sidewalk on the western side only. There are no plans to change sidewalks based on the changes to the parking lot. There are no bicycle lanes on any of the surrounding streets. There will be 23 bike parking spaces at the Bishop Professional Development building. The Topeka Bikeways Master Plan designates 33rd Street near the site as an on-street bikeway. Transit buses pass next to the site along Arnold Avenue using Route #29s. The transit routes will remain unchanged given the improvements to the project site.

↑N Bus Route Map

Anticipated Phasing and Timeline: Construction is anticipated to begin in the fall of 2018 and would take approximately 3 months.

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Site’s Trip Generation and Design Hour Volume Data

Trip Generation Rates and Design Hour Volume Data: Trip generation calculations utilized the land use types categorized by the Institute of Transportation Engineer's Trip Generation Guidelines, 10th Edition. The ITE Land Use categories used to estimate the traffic volumes anticipated to be generated by the site was School District Office (ITE Code 538). Since the site currently has no traffic except for use by the park users, the change in trips generated were only represented by additional traffic caused by the Bishop Professional Development building. The estimated number of trips generated by the buildings were calculated based on the 1000 sq ft of floor area (KSF). Copies of the ITE Trip Generation Manual pages are included in the appendix for reference purposes. The following table shows the parameters for measurement units, total trip generation rates for peak hour traffic volumes, and corresponding total vehicles for peak hour traffic at the site: ITE Traffic Generation Parameters

Description (ITE Code)

School District Office (ITE Code 538)

Weekday Total 14.37

Weekday In 50%

Weekday Out 50%

Peak Hour of Adjacent Street Traffic Peak Hour of Generator

AM Peak Total 2.36 2.47

AM Peak In 76% 67%

AM Peak Out 24% 33%

PM Peak Total 2.04 2.37

PM Peak In 17% 40%

PM Peak Out 83% 60%

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Based on the higher peak hour of generator rates, trips were estimated for the new land-use. The following table shows the traffic generation given the square footage for peak hour traffic at the site: ITE Traffic Generation Volumes

Description (ITE Code)

School District Office (ITE Code 538)

Units KSF (1000 sq ft)

Expected Units 34.123

Weekday Total 490

Weekday In 245

Weekday Out 245

AM Peak Total 84

AM Peak In 56

AM Peak Out 28

PM Peak Total 81

PM Peak In 32

PM Peak Out 49

Reductions for Pass-By and Diverted-Link Trips: The land-use of School District Office does not cause pass-by trips. No diverted-link analysis was done for this analysis.

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Trip Distribution and Traffic Assignment Trip Distribution and Traffic Assignment: Since this study did not meet the requirements for a full traffic impact study, traffic counts of the surrounding residential neighborhood streets were not taken. The new trips generated by the new land-use were all assigned to be newly created trips added into the roadway system at the surrounding origin and destination points. Trip distribution routes were estimated however the volume distribution of those trips could not determined without traffic counts. For the driveways, trips were distributed based on an assumption that 50% of vehicles would arrive and leave towards the city center and 50% of vehicles would arrive and leave towards the interstate. For exiting trips, since the 30 parking spaces to the northwest of the site represent 7% of the total available parking spaces, the Northwest Driveway was assigned 7% of exiting trips. For the following figures shown below, the distributed trips represent the amount of traffic caused by the new land-use. AM Peak Entering Trips, 56 total

Northwest Driveway - 25% of generated trips, 14 trips Northeast Driveway - 25% of generated trips, 14 trips South Driveway - 50% of generated trips, 28 trips

AM Peak Exiting Trips, 28 total Northwest Driveway - 7% of generated trips, 2 trips Northeast Driveway - 46.5% of generated trips, 13 trips South Driveway - 46.5% of generated trips, 13 trips

PM Peak Entering Trips, 32 total Northwest Driveway - 25% of generated trips, 8 trips Northeast Driveway - 25% of generated trips, 8 trips South Driveway - 50% of generated trips, 16 trips

PM Peak Exiting Trips, 49 total Northwest Driveway - 7% of generated trips, 3 trips Northeast Driveway - 46.5% of generated trips, 23 trips South Driveway - 46.5% of generated trips, 23 trips

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Existing and Projected Traffic Volumes

Existing Traffic Volumes: Existing traffic volumes were not collected as part of this study because the thresholds for a full traffic study were not met given the new land-use type. Projected Traffic Volumes: Since the number of trips attracted to the site will not increase or decrease with time but only changes if square footage would be altered, a growth rate was not used to project generated trips for future traffic conditions. Project traffic volumes for the surrounding street network were not included in this study.

Capacity Analysis Capacity Analysis: A capacity analysis was not performed as part of this study.

Traffic Accident History Traffic Accident History: A review of traffic crashes was not performed as part of this study.

Internal Circulation and Parking Proposed Site Access: No changes are proposed for the Northwest Driveway. The Northeast Driveway will be expanded to 24 ft wide and will be changed from an exit only configuration to a entrance and exit access point. Internal Circulation: Internal circulation will remain counterclockwise for the northern circular loop. The new connecting driveway will link 31st Street to 33rd Street and will experience most of the internal traffic volume. There are no expected undue delays for entering or exiting the site. Delays for large events are not expected to be significant because of the connectivity provided by the surrounding local street network and the absence of any adjacent commercial property. Parking: Parking on the northwestern corner of the building will remain unchanged. The planned parking expansion will provide a total of 433 parking spaces (29 existing stalls plus 1 existing ADA accessible reserved stall plus 395 new regular stalls plus 8 new ADA accessible reserved stalls). For teacher training seminar events, the parking lot is expected to provide ample spaces.

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Needs for Pedestrians, Bicyclists, and Public Transit Users Pedestrian Needs: A new pedestrian access will be provided connecting the southern side of the building to the southern parking lot. There are no necessary improvements for sidewalks surrounding the site. Bicyclist Needs: There are improvements necessary to accommodate bicyclists on the surrounding local streets. Bicycle parking for the facility will comply with the City of Topeka’s requirements. The number of bike parking is equal to five percent of the total vehicle parking spaces. The on-site bike rack will provide spaces for 23 bikes. Public Transit User Needs: No improvements are necessary to accommodate public transit users.

Traffic Operations and Geometric Improvements Traffic Operations and Geometric Improvements: No additional right-turn or left-turn auxiliary lanes are recommended due to the change in land-use.

Summary and Recommendations Summary: This analysis addressed the street access and trips generated by the proposed land-use change for the Bishop Professional Development building at 3601 SW 31st Street, Topeka, Kansas. The expected delay caused by new vehicles entering and exiting the site is minimal due to the lack of adjacent conflicting commercial trip generators. Recommendation: The following recommendation is made for the property and the surrounding area:

● The proposed site plan includes a 24 ft wide connection drive from the Northeast Driveway to the new South Driveway, new parking for teacher events, and new locations for truck loading and the dumpster. These changes will be necessary for the new land-use type.

● Signage that was applicable to the old school land-use should be removed.

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Appendix I - Exhibit Map and ITE Trip Generation Pages

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