For the week of May 29 - June 4, 2002

Opponents to Sagewillow speak out

SV P&Z told issue is land use, not education

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By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer

Opponents hammered at the credibility of The Community School at the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission’s bi-monthly meeting Tuesday.

The meeting at the Elkhorn Resort was the first time the P&Z heard public comment on the school’s proposed plan to build an elementary school at its Sagewillow campus at the junction of Arrowleaf and Morning Star roads.

SVEA attorney Ed Lawson told the Sun Valley P&Z that they could "reject this project without offending the sense of community" in Sun Valley and Elkhorn. Express photo by Willy Cook

P&Z chairman Jim McLaughlin allowed opponents to the project to speak first.

Tom Spence of 101 Arrowleaf Road said he remembered when The Community School wanted to build only soccer fields on the property.

"Now we find they want more than soccer fields," he said. "It’s little wonder residents are questioning about hidden agendas."

Jeff Foushée, president of the Sagewillow landowners board, called the soccer fields "an outright zoning abuse."

"We worry about what The Community School will ask for next."

Nyle Barnes of 102 Grey Eagle Road said he was told by a "Community School insider" that the school’s "dream was to place its middle school on the Sagewillow site."

Ed Lawson, the attorney for the Sun Valley Elkhorn Homeowners Association, questioned the strategy of The Community School in presenting its elementary school plan.

"I am impressed with The Community School’s presentation, its experts, and enlisting the support of powerful figures like Engl, Dumke and Janss," he said.

"But it’s like bringing Johnny Cochran in to defend you for a drunken driving charge. You only do this if you know you’re guilty," Lawson said.

Doug Carnahan of 103 Arrowleaf Road said the issue was not education but land use.

The project is "incompatible with the surrounding residential area. There will be a substantial negative impact of traffic, noise, and on public safety if this goes forward."

He said one of the greatest problems with the project is that it has only one access point.

"You can already see the congestion demonstrated by the garage sale and the soccer games."

Victor Bishop, a consulting traffic engineer hired by Carnahan, disputed the traffic study presented by The Community School.

The school’s study says that with a population of 190 pupils and 37 faculty and staff projected in 2013, there would be about 806 total trips in and out of the campus.

Bishop said he thought the figure could really be between 956 and 1,580 total trips.

The general message of the opponents was that they were not anti-education, not anti-Community School and not anti-children.

They were opposed to a development that was incompatible to the surrounding residential neighborhood.

It would bring more traffic than current roads and accesses could handle.

It would endanger public safety by causing congestion around the Elkhorn Fire Station.

And it would disturb the peace and quiet of the area, one of the biggest reasons they had for buying property in Elkhorn.

Jon Maksik, headmaster of The Community School, said Sagewillow would be used only for an elementary school.

Jim Lewis, superintendent of the Blaine County School District, spoke in favor of the project.

He likened living in Sun Valley to a "long-term relationship with a beautiful woman."

"But, she comes with lots of children," he said.

P&Z chairman McLaughlin ended public comment at 12:30 p.m. and told the audience that the commission would continue hearing public comment on the project at 9 a.m. June 11 in the Sawtooth Room at the Elkhorn Resort.

 

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