Representatives of Green Hedges School failed to garner a positive recommendation from the town Planning Commission last Wednesday for a plan to expand the school, but they will present the matter to the Board of Zoning Appeals next month. The proposed expansion had been presented at a commission meeting in June, but the decision of whether or not to approve a recommendation had been deferred. Following a lengthy discussion Wednesday, commissioners voted 6-2 to deny approval, citing concerns about the possible impact on the neighborhood.
Green Hedges School is a private school located near the intersection of Windover Avenue and Lewis Street, in the heart of a residential neighborhood and just outside the Windover Heights Historic District. The school teaches preschool through eighth grade.
Proposed alterations to the school included the construction of an underground gymnasium, the removal of an existing building, modifications to and an increase in the size of the school’s Kilmer Hall, relocation of the outdoor athletic field, and other less substantial changes.
They would increase the school’s floor space from just over 26,300 square feet to nearly 47,750 square feet.
“The purpose of this application is to provide better facilities, to ensure that the facilities remain first-rate — as they are — and to ensure that Green Hedges remains a competitive school,” said Lynne Strobel of the land-use law firm Walsh, Colucci, Lubely, Emrich & Walsh, speaking on the school’s behalf.
Most importantly, she said, the school had no intention to increase its enrollment.
She noted that concerns had been raised regarding possible noise from the generator for the heating and cooling system for the underground gym, as well as the potential for an increase in the school’s current practice of renting space to other organization during off hours.
Strobel said a noise consultant had explored the question of noise from the climate control system and that the school would follow his recommendations. She added that Green Hedges was willing to coordinate rental schedules with the neighborhood.
Commissioner Ed Chase noted that, without the rental schedule included in the school’s conditional use permit, the town could not enforce it.
“We’re certainly willing to provide some sort of mechanism so that it will be enforceable,” Strobel responded.
COMMISSIONERS AND RESIDENTS of the neighborhood also raised concerns about whether the roof of a large gymnasium buried a foot underground should not be considered an impermeable surface. They were assured that the gym’s situation underground would prevent it from affecting surface runoff and that it would be equipped to properly channel groundwater.
The biggest concern, however, was the school’s steady growth since the ‘60s and its potential for increased enrollment. Although no neighbors spoke explicitly against the expansion, they urged the commission to seriously consider the impact of the decision.
When Michael Covel, who owns or partly owns three houses in the Windover Heights area, asked Planning and Zoning Director Greg Hembree to clarify past modifications to the school’s permit, Hembree listed eight town actions since 1964 related to at least five additions or expansions, either to the school or the student body.
“It sure sounds like a trend,” said Covel. Although he acknowledged that the school was not attempting to increase enrollment and was calling the proposal its final master plan, he predicted that years down the road a new school leadership would be requesting of a new Planning Commission a building twice the size of the one currently being proposed. “Is there something more stringent, a covenant, something that says, ‘No more. That’s it. You don’t get another bite of the apple’?” he asked.
Hembree said future boards and commissions could not be bound by the actions of their present counterparts, and he recalled, “In 1997, the echo is in my head — ‘This is it. This is all we think you can have for that neighborhood.’”
“NO ONE is trying to deceive anyone. They actually believe this is the last and it will be the last,” said Bob McCormick, who has lived next door to the school for about 30 years. “The history is such that the facilities increase, and then there’s a new request for additional enrollment somewhere behind it,” he said, adding that that request might come years down the road from a different school leadership. Referring to the drawings the Green Hedges team had brought, he said, “There’s been nothing comparable to this, as far as expansion of the school is concerned.”
However, McCormick noted that the neighborhood’s relationship with the school had, to that point, primarily been beneficial, particularly to the children, who use the school’s play equipment.
Commissioner John Brunow later said he had voted to deny recommendation of the proposal out of an expectation that the additional space would eventually lead to higher enrollment, and because of the additional traffic and demands on the neighborhood that more students would bring. He, too, added, “Green Hedges has worked well with its neighbors, and they’ve been in good communication on this project.”
The school’s proposal will go before the Board of Zoning Appeals on Sept. 20, where it will be either approved or rejected. The board has final say on conditional use permits within the town government.