CARLSBAD — The city will explore roadway improvements near Kelly Elementary School to ease traffic congestion and increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
The plan — unanimously approved Tuesday by the City Council — includes near-term and long-term changes along Kelly Drive between Hillside Drive and Park Drive.
In the near term, the city will restripe the median on Kelly Drive to discourage left turns for drivers exiting the school driveway. The city will also add approximately 170 feet of red curb (no-parking areas) outside the school and install two “Right Turn Only” pavement legends to improve traffic flow, particularly during pickup and drop-off times.
The changes will cost $4,000 and are supported by the Kelly Elementary School principal and the Carlsbad Unified School District, according to city documents.
Tom Frank, the city’s transportation director, said the goal is to restripe the roadway during the school’s winter break to minimize impacts on Kelly students.
The Safe Routes to School plan is intended to further reduce congestion by making it easier — and safer — for students to walk or bike to campus. The plan would include a suite of infrastructure upgrades and educational components.
Developing the plan involves working with students, parents, school officials and nearby residents to ensure each group has a voice in the process.
Frank said the work “takes time” and estimated it would take one year to complete the Safe Routes to School plan.
The changes outside Kelly Elementary follow other recent roadway modifications in the neighborhood. On June 17, the City Council directed staff to remove the ceramic-domed traffic circles at surrounding intersections and to pursue a plan for the area that did not include roundabouts.
The city removed the circles and installed all-way stop signs before the start of the school year.
Frank presented two long-term options to the council. In addition to the Safe Routes to School plan, city staff proposed a pared-down version focused on targeted infrastructure improvements.
Council members Teresa Acosta and Kevin Shin said they preferred the Safe Routes to School option because it was more “comprehensive.”
Councilmember Melanie Burkholder, who represents the district that includes Kelly Elementary, said that “how dangerous it is” around the school, especially during school pick-up and drop-off, is something she has heard about since her second day on the council.
Burkholder said she was “super excited” to see the new plan move forward.
“It’s time for us to get some paint on the ground and get this done,” she said.
Barrio Parking
The council also directed staff to develop a conceptual plan to increase parking near Pine Avenue Community Park as part of a broader effort to expand parking options in the area.
The project — unanimously approved Tuesday — would convert five parallel parking spaces into nine perpendicular spaces along Chestnut Avenue near Madison Street.
City staff estimate construction will cost just under $125,000, or about $31,000 per added space.
Mayor Keith Blackburn said some residents might experience “sticker shock” at the cost of adding parking in Carlsbad, but said the numbers reflect “a reasonable price and it seems to be what the cost of a spot is.”
He added that two decades ago, a parking spot cost about $12,500, based on city estimates at the time.
Parking “has been — for many, many years — very expensive,” he said.
The latest improvements are part of a broader effort to expand parking in the busy, mixed-use Barrio and Village neighborhoods. Efforts include converting red curbs to gray ones. The city has identified 44 new parking spots in the Village and 22 in the Barrio.
Shin said parking challenges can deter people from visiting the area. He said he gets “disheartened” whenever he hears “folks in my district say they want to avoid the Village and it’s always the parking issue.”
Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel said she wants to ensure the city is approaching the effort cost-effectively.
“The number is really high for just one spot and I want to make sure there’s a real return on our investment for putting that spot in,” Bhat-Patel said.
Building Codes
The City of Carlsbad has adopted its updated building and fire codes, as required under state law.
The codes were introduced on Nov. 6 and unanimously approved by the City Council on Dec. 2.
According to city documents, the new versions do not differ significantly from the 2022 codes, instead making “only minor, mostly technical updates to ensure consistency and compliance with recent state revisions and local code amendments.”
