Trinity Christian School on Braddock Road plans to increase its enrollment by 75 students. The school came before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on July 21 to request an amendment to its special exception in order to do so, but that request does not include any plans to build any additional facilities.
The school, for grades K-12, received approval in 1996 to open and operate. It was to be built in phases with enrollment in Phase I capped at 500 students. When additional classroom space is built, the school would be permitted to increase its enrollment to 750 students.
The school, which opened in 2003, increased the classroom space permitted in Phase I in exchange for a corresponding decrease in other facilities. This change was approved by the Department of Planning and Zoning, said Sarah Hall, attorney for the school.
As a result, the school's classroom capacity has increased. “It can easily accommodate more than the 500 students,” Hall said. The school wants to increase to 575 students, but has not requested increasing the 750-student cap.
The school is not asking for the opportunity to build any additional facilities.
NEARBY RESIDENTS came to speak against the increase in enrollment, noting that it is a 15 percent increase in enrollment. “How might we be compensated for this 15 percent increase?” said Robert Haffa, an abutting property owner.
Haffa suggested that the school be required to plant more trees to buffer the property or decrease the hours its lights are on. He also noted that these additional students would mean that many more parents would be dropping their children off at the school with a corresponding increase in traffic.
Commission Chair Peter Murphy (Springfield) pointed out that since the enrollment is capped at 750 students, traffic studies and other impact analyses would have been performed at the higher level, and therefore the additional students were taken into account at the time of the initial special exception.
Commissioner Suzanne Harsel (Braddock) expressed sympathy for the situation. She noted that it frequently happens that a project is approved but not built for many years. Residents move and new developments are built, and the new neighbors are not aware of the pending project. Then the bulldozers show up and start construction on the project. “It is a shock to the citizens,” she said. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is a case where that happened.”
Haffa, the neighbor, was involved in the special exception application in 1996, Harsel pointed out. She further noted that some concessions had already been made on the site to accommodate him. “There are no lights out here because of you,” she said.
Harsel said she did not think it appropriate to reconsider the terms of the special exception.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the enrollment increase.
The matter is scheduled to come before the Board of Supervisors for approval on Aug. 1.