Politics & Government

Town Council Rejects Palm Street School Bid

The Council will recommend to the county that they do not grant a permit to a proposed 250 person capacity high school that would be opened on East Palm Street.

For the second time this month an Altadena group recommended against a proposed high school on Palm Street in a non-binding vote on Tuesday.

Two weeks after the town's Land Use Committee unanimously voted against the Arcadia-based Arroyo Pacific Academy's receiving a permit to bring a new campus to Altadena, the Altadena Town Council backed the committee and voted to inform county planners that they do not support the construction of the school.

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Only one council member, Jamie Bissner, opposed the motion at Tuesday night's meeting.

The proposal comes from the Arcadia-based Arroyo Pacific Academy and would bring a private high school with a maximum capacity of 250 kids to 183-205 Palm St.

Find out what's happening in Altadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Council's decision does not mean the school will not be built-the County's Planning Commission will ultimately make the ruling on whether or not to grant a conditional use permit to operate the school. 

Sussy Nemer, a representative of County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, said to her knowledge, a hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The property has been a source of controversy since the Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School operated at the site during the 2008-09 school year without telling the community or acquiring all the necessary permits from L.A. County.

That incident sparked the formation of an neighborhood group that opposes any school in the area.  Dozens of neighbors showed up to Tuesday's meeting to express their opposition.

There were also about an equal number of supporters, most of whom were affiliated with the Arcadia branch of Arroyo Pacific Academy.  Several who spoke on behalf of the school were Altadena resident who had sent their children there.

One of them, Scott Twomey, suggested that while the local neighbors don't like the project, it would be a benefit to the community as a whole.

"Now is the time for council to think beyond the block, think beyond on East Palm, and think whether a college preparatory school is a good thing for Altadena," Twomey said.

Opponents stressed that traffic, noise and property values were their main concerns about the school.

Sonjia-Sophie Loeffler, a Palm resident, said the introduction of car traffic to accommodate up to 250 kids would make the narrow street dangerous for pedestrians.

"It is a very narrow school with no sidewalks," Loeffler said.  "One already has to often go to the side to yield to oncoming traffic."

Philip Clarke, the director of Arroyo Pacific Academy, also spoke, as did a land use attorney on his behalf. They attempted to address concerns raised by the Land Use Committee that having a school permitted on the site would mean that the land would be designated to have a school in the long term.

Clarke has also previously said the school's focus is on rigorous academics rather than extracurricular activities or sports, and said he believes that would address noise concerns.  He has also promised a carpooling system to reduce neighborhood car traffic.

But Town Council members who spoke at the hearing seemed to fundamentally believe that no school should be on the site under any circumstances.

"In my judgment is simply not appropriate to put a high school, or really, any school there," said Town Council member Gino Sund.

As with the Land Use Committee meeting two weeks earlier, Tuesday's meeting was packed, with many forced to stand in the back throughout the hearing.  However, the Town Council restricted public comment to four supporters on each side of the issue, and spent relatively little time debating the issue, making the hearing a fairly short one.

And unlike the committee meaning, where a man began screaming expletives at school supporters and was escorted out by sheriff's deputies, aside from the occasional grumbling and one instance of booing, the crowd stayed relatively quiet and allowed each side to speak without interruption. 


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