Sagewillow school plan survives appeal
hearing
City Council upholds P&Z use permit
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Sun Valley City Council members Wednesday
narrowly voted to deny two appeals of a city permit granted to The Community
School to build a new elementary school on its Sagewillow campus in Elkhorn.
In a 2-1 vote with Council President
Latham Williams abstaining, the panel upheld the city Planning and Zoning
Commission’s January approval of a conditional-use permit to develop part of the
30-acre Sagewillow site.
Council members Ann Agnew and Lud Renick
voted to deny the two appeals, while Councilman Kevin Laird voted to support the
appellants.
"There’s no question in my mind that
schools are correct uses in the O-R zone," Agnew said, responding to objections
from the appellants that the use was inappropriate for the Outdoor/Recreation
zoned site.
Laird said he was "not comfortable" with
conditions to the permit designed to mitigate traffic impacts, noting that he
wanted to remand the application back to the P&Z. "I think there’s work to do,"
he said.
Williams removed himself from the panel
during the proceedings, noting that he had conflicting interests in the matter
because his two children attend The Community School.
The two appeals against the permit issued
to The Community School were filed by the Sun Valley Elkhorn Association
homeowners’ group and a contingent of citizens who reside on adjacent Arrowleaf
Road and in other neighborhoods near the site.
A third appeal filed by The Community
School seeking less stringent regulations on the number of vehicles that can
enter and exit the site via Arrowleaf Road was also rejected by the council. The
panel voted 3-0 to deny that appeal and approve the traffic restrictions set
forth by the P&Z.
The P&Z’s approval of the project came
with a long, six-page set of operating conditions for the school and penalties
if the conditions are violated.
The P&Z set a maximum number of vehicles
that can enter or exit the site each month, based on an allowance of 400
vehicles per day during the week and 150 vehicles per day on weekends. The
numbers would be adjusted to 480 vehicles per day during the week and 200 on the
weekend during the months of September and October to accommodate soccer games
and practices.
The school will be required to install a
vehicle counter at its entrance at the end of Arrowleaf Road.
J. Evan Robertson, attorney for The
Community School, argued in his appeal that the new campus ought to be allowed
to accommodate an average of 480 vehicles per day over the course of the entire
calendar year.
"Damn it, if we’re going to run a school
we’re going to need some flexibility," he said.
However, he noted that the school will
comply with whatever regulations were imposed by the city. "This is the school’s
risk, if we don’t meet the requirements," he said. "We’re going to do it."
Attorney Ned Williamson, representing the
residents of Arrowleaf Road and other Elkhorn neighborhoods, presented the first
of the appeals against the CUP. He argued that the new school—as a private
entity—would not meet any of the defined conditional uses for the OR zoning
district.
Williamson also argued that the conditions
imposed by the P&Z would not adequately mitigate noise, and finally asked that
the application be remanded back to the P&Z for further review.
Ed Lawson, attorney for the SVEA
appellants, asked that the council reject the application or send it back to P&Z
so the city could "come up with a real traffic plan."
He said the permit conditions failed on
several accounts. "This has not been thought out," he said. "It’s simply been
pushed through the pipeline in the hopes it will not cause a problem."
As the first phase of the plan to develop
the new elementary school, The Community School is permitted to construct
several new structures, including a 6,700-square-foot administration and
education building, a 4,550-square-foot "community room" and a
9,800-square-foot, two-story classroom building.
Phase Two of the project—which will not be
allowed to proceed if the school violates its CUP conditions—proposes
approximately 10,000 square feet of buildings, including a library and
additional classrooms.
The school is planning to open the new
Sagewillow campus in 2004.
However, the Sagewillow project, including
its Phase One plans, must still go through the city’s design review process
before construction can begin.