DE BELL DRIVE / MAPLE MANOR
M-A Parking & Pedestrian Safety
Atherton City Council Study Session • September 9, 2026 Prepared and submitted by residents of De Bell Drive / Maple Manor The problem
• M-A High School overflow parking has shifted onto adjacent residential streets, including De Bell Drive and Maple Manor. • The parking pressure tends to increase as the school year progresses because more students become eligible to drive, making a durable solution important before the problem intensifies. • Many student drivers are relatively new and inexperienced drivers who are navigating the neighborhood during busy school arrival and dismissal periods, often under time pressure. The combination of inexperienced drivers, congestion, pedestrians and children on a narrow residential street creates an avoidable safety concern. • Residents have experienced haphazard parking, driveway and hydrant conflicts, and vehicles encroaching on landscaping. • Parent pickup/drop-off is a related but distinct safety concern because hurried vehicles enter a narrow residential street when pedestrians and children are present.
What the temporary trial demonstrated
• The Town installed temporary A-frame signs stating "No Student Parking" and "No Student Pick-Up or Drop-Off" as unenforceable deterrents and data-gathering tools.
• The A-frames were highly effective at nearly eliminating student parking. However, six large temporary signs are not an attractive long-term solution, and some parent pickup/drop-off activity continues.
Principles for a permanent solution
• Make the successful parking deterrent permanent and enforceable while using attractive, appropriately placed signage. • Use the least restrictive hours needed to prevent school-day overflow parking. • Preserve reasonable access for residents, visitors, caregivers, household workers, contractors and service providers. • Address pickup/drop-off separately with safety-focused stopping/loading controls where and when appropriate. • Ask M-A / Sequoia Union High School District to communicate clearly that the neighborhood is not an authorized student parking or pickup/drop-off area.
Options for Council and staff
Approach Considerations
Permanent signs only Avantan; preserves blY ay remain unenforceable if purely adviso Strong parking control; resident/guest exemptions ore administration; all-day restriction may School-day permit parking
possible broader than necessary
May block all-day student parking while Police/staff should determine whether the hours Morning-only permit/restriction
preserving most daytime access re sufficien
Directly targets parent pickup/drop-off and xact locations/hours and legal signage requir Limited No Stopping/Loading windows
pedestrian safety staff review
Addresses both parking and pickup/drop-off while
Hybrid approach Requires coordinated design and enforcement preserving resident access
Residents' requested Council direction
We ask the Council to direct Town staff, Police and the Town Attorney to develop a narrowly tailored, enforceable permanent program that:
• prevents M-A student overflow parking;
• replaces the temporary A-frames with appropriate permanent signage; • preserves practical resident, visitor and service-provider access; • addresses school pickup/drop-off as a separate pedestrian-safety issue; and • includes M-A/School District cooperation and a defined trial/review period.
Related traffic issue: General speeding and commuter cut-through traffic on De Bell Drive should remain on a parallel transportation/safety track so differing views on traffic-calming measures do not delay resolution of the school-parking problem.