As a resident of Upper Dublin Township, I created this petition to express my disapproval of building a bus depot next to Fort Washington Elementary School. I implore the Upper Dublin School Board to reject this plan and pursue other locations in the township that are away from students, teachers, pedestrians, and neighborhoods.

The bus depot was supposed to be built after the new high school in 2008. However, this was never done, and the school district is currently leasing space for approximately $500,000 a year. The leased location has poor facilities for transportation staff, and there needs to be a better long term solution. However, it should not come at the expense of the health and well-being of the 500+ children that attend Fort Washington Elementary School.

In 2018, the school board proposed to build the bus depot on Field of Dreams. At that time, the community rallied together to save the field so township youth sports programs could continue to use it for the children. In October 2020, the school board then proposed to build the bus depot next to Field of Dreams, bringing it even closer to Fort Washington Elementary School. Since that time, community members have spoken against this location on several occasions, but the school board continues to move forward.

In January 2024, ICS presented the design plan for the new bus depot next to FWES, which is estimated to cost approximately $10.3 million. The bus depot will be 3 acres large, and will be approximately 70 ft from the school playground. It is too close to where the children play, and it encroaches on their green space. It will also disrupt the lower carpool drop off and pickup, which will worsen congestion at the main entrance to the school on Fort Washington Ave. With the school district fleet consisting of 32 buses, 6 mini-buses, 3 lift-buses, and 9 vans going in and out all day long for morning runs, afternoon runs, private schools, field trips, planetarium and Robbins Park trips, and sporting events, traffic on Highland Ave and Loch Alsh will be negatively impacted. The current zoning at this location is A-residential, and will require a variance in order to build the bus depot at this site.

In addition, since the initial proposal of this location, an EF-2 tornado hit the school and destroyed trees. There is no longer a natural barrier between the school and the proposed site of the bus depot since all the trees were destroyed. The school also underwent close to 2 years of construction to repair the tornado damage, and had a year of geothermal drilling in the fields that the kids use for recess. Students at Fort Washington Elementary School have already had to endure the effects of the tornado and the re-construction of the school and fields. Another 28-32 months of construction for a bus depot is not beneficial to the students, staff, and community.

Please consider signing the petition and sharing with friends and neighbors. We need to have our voices heard. Thank you.