A design presented by Tetra Tech to the Saranac Lake school board Wednesday night would expand the bus circle so a total of 13 buses could fit head-to-tail in the bus circle. (Enterprise photo — Glynis Hart)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake Central School board members disagreed Wednesday night on how to fix the congestion at the Petrova school’s drop-off zone, where hurried parents, cars and buses create a dangerous situation for kids.

“Twice this year I’ve seen a school bus slam on their brakes because there was a kid running across in front of them,” said Middle School Principal Bruce VanWeelden. “The fact that there hasn’t been an accident is pretty darn lucky.”

Petrova Elementary School and Saranac Lake Middle School share the building on Petrova Avenue, with different start and dismissal times. VanWeelden said the danger is primarily to the elementary school kids, going back and forth to their parents’ cars.

“When the kids come out, they’re not using the crosswalk,” he continued. “People are parked all along the sidewalk, and the kids are pouring across any paved surface like ants coming out of an anthill.”

Civil engineer Tom Farlow of Tetra Tech was presenting the board with architectural designs to separate the bus traffic from parents picking up and dropping off students. Part of the school’s ongoing capital project, the redesign of the drop-off area would make two separate entrances by building a sidewalk between the parking lot and the bus driveway.

To create a separate entrance for buses and make the bus driveway wide enough, the design would require removing part of the hillside and building a retaining wall. The rocky hillside would make this expensive, although district Superintendent Diane Fox assured the board that the changes are already covered in the capital project’s cost.

Between the bus entrance and the parking lot entrance would be a sidewalk, 10 feet wide at its narrowest point, and curbs to keep vehicles separate from pedestrians. Farlow added that the work of widening the bus entrance would require removing some trees along the slope.

“I have all kinds of issues with this,” board member Jeremy Evans said. “I think it’s a waste of money.”

Evans pushed for involving the village government. Petrova Avenue, where the school’s entrances are, is a village street.

“I think if we go ahead without coordinating with the village, we may spend the money without fixing the problem,” Evans said.

“I’m not wild about this, either,” said board President Rick Retrosi. He suggested setting up a work session with village personnel.

“I think a lot of the problem is on Petrova Avenue,” Evans said. “Why not pay monitors for years, and let parents drop kids off on Petrova Avenue?

“Even though the expectation from the voters is to do something about the problem, if they saw how much of the hillside and trees would have to be removed, they’d say ‘That’s not what I signed up for.'”

Evans also questioned “no parking” signs on Petrova Avenue across from the school. No one at the meeting knew the village’s original reason for putting up those signs or how long they have been there.

Fox, however, said the traffic problem has been around a long time, and both the safety committee and the facilities planning committee had come up with numerous solutions. She said the design in front of the board was chosen over half a dozen others.

In the end, the board agreed to invite village personnel, including Manager John Sweeney and public works Superintendent Jeff Dora, to a meeting to discuss the problem.

As for the two-driveway design, VanWeelden said, “I, too, don’t know if that’s the answer. But, I do know it’s a real problem and it needs to be addressed.”