By Clarence Cromwell
A council chambers packed with supporters and a deluge of more than 400 form letters didn't convince the Planning Commission to put a school on Hicks Road near Camden Avenue.
The commission refused Challenger School's request to put a 43,582-square-foot private elementary and pre-school on the 47-acre site. The building would house 560 students.
Los Gatos Christian Church, located next door to the Challenger site, received a "no" vote from the commission June 26 on its proposal to draw 230 more students to its school. The commission agreed with neighbors who complained that more traffic would ruin the area's rural atmosphere. The church is appealing the decision.
After the church's rejection, Challenger charged ahead with an all-out public relations effort to gain approval. The school persuaded 401 Los Gatos residents to sign form letters supporting the school and gathered nearly 900 signatures on a petition in favor of the school. Roughly half of the standing-room-only crowd, about 100 people, at last week's meeting wore name tags proclaiming, "I support Challenger School." Three of them spoke during the public hearing.
But the same issues that killed the Los Gatos Christian Church expansion stretched Challenger's public hearing to two hours. Neighbors told the commission they don't want the additional traffic the school would bring.
Michael Burke, who spoke against the church's expansion last month, said an hourlong rush of parents dropping kids at Challenger on weekday mornings would be dangerous--especially if the church is also allowed to expand--because Hicks and Shannon roads can't handle more traffic. Shannon, a narrow, winding country road is dangerous now, he said.
"Basically, we're going to have an hour every day where it's very dangerous for us to leave our house," Burke said.
Mike Ajlouny, whose 5,000-square-foot house is under construction next door to the Challenger site, agreed that Shannon Road is too narrow to handle the heavier traffic.
Commissioners concluded unanimously that the school would be out of place in the rural neighborhood and would bring too much traffic.
"It's a wonderful school, but it's the wrong place for it," Commissioner Wes Peyton said.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, July 31, 1996.
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