Politics & Government

County Advises 'No' Vote on Palm Street School, School Gets Loan

The County Regional Planning Commission's planning staff has recommended rejecting an Arcadia school's plans to build a school in Altadena. The school has been approved for a federal loan to expand.

County planners have recommended against supporting a proposed private high school on Palm Street, according to a report in the Altadenablog.

The school proposal at 183 E. Palm Street, which was proposed by the founder of Arcadia's Arroyo Pacific Academy, was also rejected by the Altadena Town Council in a vote to recommend against the project to the county.

The County Regional Planning Commission will discuss the project and vote on it at an April 4 hearing.  

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The department's staff report for that hearing suggests the commission vote against it, calling the project "incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood pattern" and said it would affect the "health, peace, comfort, or welfare" of people living near the project.

If the project does ultimately get approved it appears the school has a dedicated source of funds that could help get the school running: Arroyo Pacific has been granted a $2,821,000 federal Small Business Administration loan, according to a press release issued by Mercantile Capital Corporation, which administered the loan.

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The loan would be used to "enable the school to expand in numbers and invest in additional well qualified staff."  The release does not specify whether the loan would be used to expand the existing school in Arcadia or at the new Altadena campus or at some other potential school site.

The Town Council has twice voted to recommend denial of the project, and local neighbors of the school site have voiced strong opposition.  There has also been considerable support for the project from Arroyo Pacific parents living in Altadena.

Support seems to have a strong correlation for where people live: the map on right depicts where county planners received communications from people in support or opposition to the project.  Though the county received 281 records in support of the project compared to 69 against, the map at right, which comes from the county report, shows the opposition is clustered right on Palm Street next to the project.  

The county's report on the project can be viewed on right and there is more on the county's website.  For more about the details of the school proposal, visit the below links:


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