Preschool meets resistance on its permit application at church site
Town will study traffic on Ferris and Spencer avenues
Delay frustrates supporters
By Nathan R. Huff
Mariposa Montessori's supporters left Town Council chambers disappointed and angry Jan. 3, after finding themselves in the exact position they were in in October. The council, facing a crowd of familiar neighborhood faces, again delayed a decision on the school's application to open a preschool at Faith Lutheran Church on Ferris Avenue.
Both residents and school supporters had expected a traffic study on Ferris and Spencer avenues to be completed, but somewhere along the line, the town failed to ask the traffic consultant--who had already been hired to examine Englewood Avenue's traffic problems--to look specifically at the proposed school site.
The council agreed to rectify the oversight by spending the estimated $10,000 on a traffic study specific to Ferris and Kennedy, instructing staff to initiate mitigation measures suggested by the study, and allow time for neighbors and school officials to evaluate traffic calming measures and work towards a solution together. The matter will come back to council on April 3.
However, that may be too late for the preschool to open by fall, as it had hoped.
"We're all kind of disappointed, sad, and angry that the town didn't come to a decision," Joanne Varni, Mariposa Montessori president said after the meeting. "By continuing our appeal, it's basically putting our application one foot into the grave."
Varni said the school faces many challenges--including licensing, building improvements, the hiring of teachers, and determining enrollment--that it cannot address until after it receives permit approval. Completing these requirements, as well as raising the necessary funds, would be difficult to do in five or six months, Varni said.
The majority of council members agreed with the church's neighbors, saying that adding traffic in an area that is already heavily affected would be a poor decision. "Until we've got a fix," Councilman Joe Pirzynski said, "I can't vote for the school."
Most of the neighbors who spoke at the meeting said that they are not necessarily opposed to the school, but a lot must happen in the area of traffic calming before they will support the project.
"Our understanding was a traffic study would be done on Ferris," church neighbor Pat Parseghian said. "I feel very disappointed and let down by the town."
School officials maintain that their mandatory carpool plan and off-peak hours would minimize the traffic burden on the already affected area. "We would consider ourselves to be responsible for the traffic at Ferris and Spencer," said Cindy Acker, director of Mariposa Montessori.
Jan Hutchins was the only council member who supported the school's appeal. "The worst thing we could do is deny the appeal and not aggressively move to do something about the traffic," Hutchins said. "It's obvious that if a bunch of people are here to fight against a preschool, there's a problem."
Varni said the school would continue to work on the neighborhood's concerns.
"Given [the traffic study that] was promised to the residents in October, I can see why they're upset," Varni said after the meeting. Yet the council members could have shown some backbone by making a decision, she said. "We felt like they didn't want to deny us because they'd look bad, but they didn't want to approve because they want everyone happy," she said.
Councilwoman Linda Lubeck said the decision had more to do with the information available to council, or lack thereof. "There's going to have to be some anti-cut-through measures on Ferris that can be demonstrated before I could support [the school]."
Following the traffic study, the consultant will suggest traffic calming ideas. Residents and town officials will have approximately a month to evaluate the effectiveness of any mitigation measures, before the matter returns to council on April 3.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
