Approval of plan for new Highlawn classroom includes changes to traffic management on Somerset

Prairie Village has given the green light to a project that will add a second story classroom to Highlawn Montessori School on Somerset Drive — but on the condition that the city and school take steps to mitigate potential traffic problems in the area.

After somewhat lengthy discussion last week, the Prairie Village City Council approved a Special Use Permit that will allow Highlawn to move forward with construction of a new classroom to house its expanding elementary level programming. But as a condition of the permit, Highlawn will have to pay for the installation of official city “No Left Turn” signs on both its east and west driveways. The stipulation is intended to address the fact that Prairie Village traffic officers say they have seen parents disobeying the non-official “No Left Turn” signs the school currently has in place, but that they can’t enforce traffic violations there because the signs are not official.

The city will also be striping a portion of the east bound right turn lane on Somerset Drive to make short term parallel parking spaces out of an area where parents frequently stop and wait in their cars for kids to get out of school.

“Basically, what we want to do it take what people are doing now and make it legal,” said Sgt. James Carney of the police department’s traffic unit.