[KHTS] – Santa Clarita planning commissioners voted 5-0 to deny Einstein Academy’s plan for a Valencia school site at a hearing Tuesday.
The move came after support from Einstein parents, and opposition from Hart district and Castaic Union school officials.
“We are continuing conversations with city staff and committed to come up with a traffic plan that will work for all parties involved,” said Jeffrey Shapiro, executive director for Einstein Academy.
However, the most compelling argument for Santa Clarita planners came from city staffers who expressed opposition to a proposed double right turn onto Rye Canyon Road, which traffic engineers claimed would pose a safety concern.
“This is something that’s been going on for a year and a half,” said Jeff Hogan, planning manager for Santa Clarita. “There are some big issues that there are just some basic disagreements on.”
There are currently 548 students who attend an Einstein Academy site in the Acton Agua Dulce Union School District, which chartered Albert Einstein Academy for the Letters, Arts and Sciences for a K-8 last year.
City staff said they had last-minute information from Einstein Academy officials addressing traffic concerns, but there was still worry over the traffic influx the 650-student total eventually expected at the 25300 Rye Canyon Road site would bring.
“We can work with the applicant after the meeting but I need to know that the applicant is willing to work with us on population,” Hogan said.
Planning Commissioner Lisa Eichman expressed concern over the site choice because it was an industrial park, and shared concern with the other commissioners over the impact to surrounding businesses.
Einstein officials also are planning a site on Orchard Village Road, which is currently a PInecrest Schools site.
The PInecrest Schools site in Valencia is reportedly in escrow and planned for to meet additional need for for K-6 space, according to Shapiro.
More than 1,300 students requested a spot in the academy’s K-6 program when it was opened up for a lottery last May, Shapiro said.
Einstein Academy officials now have the option to petition again or appeal, however, city officials did request additional traffic studies on plans submitted to officials Monday, before an approval could be recommended.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Tweet This
Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
RSS
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
39 Comments
When will the city get off their high horse and allow our kids to go to school in the city limits.
There was no traffic from this building when it was a business? They didn’t have truck traffic for the product that they produced? The only traffic increase I see is the difference of an empty building and one that is used. This seems like a weak excuse for not granting the variance.
all of these questions should be answered for you when we post the planning commission meeting on SCVTv.com, but in short, it’s zoned for a business park, and it’s the difference between approx. 100 traffic trips generated per hour from a commercial building of its size during peak commute times, and approx. 700 traffic trips per hour that Einstein’s paperwork said it would generate at peak commute times. (Only because you asked – we don’t have a dog in this fight.)
I have no connection to this or any other school in the valley. I only wonder because I have driven this street for many years and noticed the trafic at this location that is only slightly better now that the building is empty. All of the schools have traffic situations as with Santa Clarita Elementary.
Right, and based on the documents Einstein submitted, the traffic would become demonstrably worse. Plus, remember this is a charter school that tried to go into an existing office building; the question is why the school officials got everybody worked up over a site they knew could not legally work. Also remember, you can’t compare it to “regular” public schools because they all involve new construction, which is approved by the Division of State Architect and don’t have to (and in fact do not) obey local zoning ordinances.
You bring up the other question that I had. The difference between an office building and a school building as determined by the safety standards.
You bring up the other question that I had. The difference between an office building and a school building as determined by the safety standards.
don’t know enough about that to comment on it, although it was brought up at the Planning Commission that the building predated 1994 and has not been retrofitted. Removing, for the moment, the fact that it’s a school that would generate 7 times more traffic during peak hours, generally you don’t have to pull permits if you’re just swapping tenants and not doing major TI work, but if you’re doing TI work (as is the case here), you would have to pull permits, and then you’d be subject to retrofitting and everything else.
don’t know enough about that to comment on it, although it was brought up at the Planning Commission that the building predated 1994 and has not been retrofitted. Removing, for the moment, the fact that it’s a school that would generate 7 times more traffic during peak hours, generally you don’t have to pull permits if you’re just swapping tenants and not doing major TI work, but if you’re doing TI work (as is the case here), you would have to pull permits, and then you’d be subject to retrofitting and everything else.
Also, if you watched last night’s Planning Commission meeting, you heard the building owner say he knew a school would violate the CC&Rs but he didn’t think anybody would care. Yes, he actually said that.
Also, if you watched last night’s Planning Commission meeting, you heard the building owner say he knew a school would violate the CC&Rs but he didn’t think anybody would care. Yes, he actually said that.
Any parent of an Oak Hill, Rancho Pico or West Ranch student can describe unsafe traffic conditions for students. This school cannot begin to compare to that traffic nightmare.
@susan…. Couldn’t agree more. How in the world is the top of Valencia Blvd any better? I want to know who planned THAT!
The state, and to lesser extent the county.
Or the traffic jam in front of pico cyn elementary every morning and afternoon.
Sounds like B-S. They don’t want to approve Einstein because it is better than all the other schools in the area!
Nancy Prairie did you hear about this ?
School construction is regulated primarily by the State of California.
Kim Sloan better than other schools in the area? Parents are probably demonstrably the most indulgent.
I love AEA, I took my son out of a public school in Scv because he was so bored. I look at what my son did in Scv public school and there’s nothing. When I put my son in AEA, he comes home happy and loved it. We have been in AEA for over a month now and he has learned so much more in that short time then he did in the other school. There will alway be traffic by any school. I’m behind AEA all the way. And I really do hope they get to come out here soon. I will never but my son back in a public school again. AEA is amazing.
AEA where my son is an 8th grader IS a far better school than all the others out here!!! We do not get to be academically in the top 1% of all middle schools and high schools in all of CA due to dumb luck. it is due to the accomplishments of the school. The elem school where I know many people who have their children there, far exceeds the academics at the surrounding elementary schools. I only wish my son had had the opportunity to attend there while he was in the lower grades, instead of having to attend a school in the SUSD. There was an accident at that corner this morning! Are they going to say it was the result of more traffic due to AEA? Psh! They do not want to approve it because they are intimidated with the high caliber and all of the success stories coming out of AEA!! My son is a perfect example!!!! In elementary school, he was an average student and often struggled. Once getting to AEA, the teachers instilled in him the ability and desire to want to do well, and I can say he now is an outstanding student. The teachers at the AEA elem school also are so wonderful that they also have a positive effect on the children. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and I’m so grateful that AEA is teaching my son how to be one.
Intimidated? Better than all other schools? Are you guys even realizing what you sound like? I’m 100% for choice, but parents talking that way about their CHILDREN’S schools is pretty lame. It’s not a beauty contest. Wow.
You have Hart Placerita pine crest schools all in this traffic as well as COC. Doesn’t mean much to people who don’t live in this area but for those if us who do it’s a mess in the am
Jared, are any other middle schools and high schools in our area, ranked by the State of CA as being in the top 1% of all middle schools and high schools in our state? I was a teacher for LAUSD for 11 years. So from a professional point of view, yes, the academics of AEA far exceed the academics if other schools in our valley. And our state has recognized us as such!
Haha! There you go again. Do you realize what it sounds like? It comes off as a football game, a contest, a flexing of academic muscle. Kids flourish where they are planted, some need to be planted in something other than public schools. Some don’t. But the way someoif these parents get huffy and defensive does nothing but make them look like ridiculously selfish parents. Making up for personal academic failures perhaps? Whatever the case, pitting one school against another is ignorant. And truth be told, pretty telling.
I’d say time would be better spent gathering allies. Parents of kids in other schools (even *gasp* public ones!) that welcome the choice of another school. Not puffing your chest out about rankings and such. It’s about the kids. All of our kids.
SCVTV… It was a rhetorical question ;)
Isn’t ranking what they’re all talking about? I mean you say potatoes and they say po tot toes.
@TimothyMyers yes it is! My children do not go there as they are older and my senior high schooler is homeschooled but I do know families with children who attend Einstein and it really is a great school! I support great educators and I hope SCV embraces Einstein Academy.
Caleb Christine Grusing FYI
Caleb Christine Grusing FYI
Ugh, what a ridiculous excuse! So basically they are telling parents we need to move somewhere else if we want to have high quality charter school options for our children? Not a great way to encourage growth and a good reputation for the SCV community…
Ugh, what a ridiculous excuse! So basically they are telling parents we need to move somewhere else if we want to have high quality charter school options for our children? Not a great way to encourage growth and a good reputation for the SCV community…
This is lame and so what next? I’m tired of my son being shipped 45 min away and paying for bus fair. They need to get a building and quickly this is riduculous!!
Traffic and safety are legitimate concerns. But I can’t understand why anyone would be ideologically opposed to a top 1 percent school unless they were fearful of competition for all the wrong reasons. I hope AEA finds a great spot somewhere.
Meredith Ward
All’s I can say is; whoever was responsible for putting the plan together that was submitted to the city was no Einstein! :-)
Daisy Santiago Shane Santiago
In terms of the comments about traffic near public schools, the County is not to blame (I am a former County employee). Public schools are agencies of the State of California; as such, they are exempt from local zoning of the city or county in which they are located. In short, a public school district can locate a school wherever they choose to. Once the district(s) have made the decision on where to locate, County engineers try to work with the district(s) to improve on-site and nearby traffic circulation. Some district staff are open to County suggestions, others are not. So if there is any “blame” for traffic problems at or near public schools, it belong with the district’s board and staff, and not the county or city.