For the week of February 12-18, 2003

Three appeals filed against Sagewillow School permit

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

Three separate entities on Monday filed appeals against the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission’s decision Jan. 29 to grant a conditional use permit to The Community School to build a new elementary school on its Sagewillow campus in Elkhorn.

The three appellants include a large group of homeowners who reside on or near the access road to the Sagewillow campus, the Sun Valley Elkhorn Association homeowners’ group and The Community School itself.

The appeal filed by The Community School—put forth by Twin Falls attorney J. Evan Robertson—claims that the P&Z’s restriction of daily traffic volumes allowed at the site "is arbitrary and capricious" and "is not supported by the evidence in the record."

Robertson also claims that the restrictions "will negatively impact the efficient conduct of the Community School’s proposed elementary school program in the usual and customary manner."

The P&Z established a maximum number of vehicles that can enter or exit the site each month, based on a daily allowance that ranges from 150 to 480 vehicles per day.

The school is to be required to install a vehicle counter at the end of Arrowleaf Road to monitor its own traffic counts.

An appeal filed by Hailey attorney Ned Williamson on behalf of a contingent of Arrowleaf Road area homeowners cites 10 objections to the P&Z’s decision.

The group of appellants includes Douglas and Meredith Carnahan, Steve and Nancy Wasilewski, William and Mary Jane Elmore, Woody and Marjorie Woodward, Oris and Bonnie Kirk, and the owner’s associations of Sagewillow, Sunpointe, The Bluffs, Fairway Nine II, and Sunburst.

The appeal claims that the decision was "in excess of the authority" of the P&Z, used "unlawful procedure," was "arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion," and "is in violation of Sun Valley’s Zoning Ordinance."

The appeal filed by Ketchum attorney James Laski on behalf of the SVEA cites the same 10 objections as those listed in the Arrowleaf homeowners’ appeal.

City officials Tuesday afternoon said a date for the Sun Valley City Council to consider the appeals had not been set.

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