P&Z Deals Alternative School Plan A Setback

By Andrew Gorosko

After lengthy discussion, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have rejected the public school system’s proposed zoning rule changes that would have allowed the alternative high school to locate in a commercial building that is now under construction in a B-3 business zone at 7 Berkshire Road (Route 34), near Newtown High School.

P&Z members turned down the requested zoning rule change on September 2, at a session attended by more than a dozen people connected with the alternative high school. In the vote, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil, Lilla Dean, and Jane Brymer opted to turn down the school system’s request. P&Z member Robert Mulholland dissented.

The P&Z’s prime reason for rejecting the application was to preserve commercially-zoned space for commercial uses, which generate local property tax revenues.

In 1999, the P&Z drew criticism from the Economic Development Commission (EDC) when it approved the Newtown Montessori Society’s request to use the former Gordon Fraser Gallery at 173 South Main Street as the new home of the local Newtown Montessori School, which became known as the Fraser-Woods School after it moved there from Dodgingtown.

That P&Z approval allowed a nontaxable private school as a permitted use in a M-2 (Industrial) zone. Before the Montessori group bought the South Main Street building, the building’s former owners had paid the town approximately $43,000 in annual property taxes.

At the 7 Berkshire Road building eyed for the alternative high school, the school system would have paid the building owner’s property taxes through a “triple net” lease arrangement on the property. But the town, in effect, would be paying taxes to itself, instead of receiving tax revenue from a privately owned business located in that commercial space.

The alternative high school program was located in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills until last April, when a nighttime explosion and fire heavily damaged the space used there by the program. The program then relocated to the basement of Newtown Middle School on Queen Street, where it remains. Newtown Middle School is not a good location for the alternative high school, School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff has told P&Z members.

The alternative education program instructs about 15 high school-age special needs students in a small setting, rather then the 1,600-student Newtown High School. Although commonly known as the alternative high school, or the alternative school, the educational unit’s formal name is the Newtown Experiential High School, due to its experience-based teaching approach.

To allow the alternative high school to locate at 7 Berkshire Road, the public school system was seeking P&Z approval for a “public school” as a permitted use in a commercial building smaller than 10,000 square feet in a B-3 (Business) zone. Public schools typically are located in public buildings.

School officials have told P&Z members that 7 Berkshire Road’s proximity to Newtown High School would make for an especially convenient location for the alternative high school.

Although the September 2 P&Z session was well-attended by school officials and alternative high school students, the meeting was not a public hearing, and only P&Z members discussed the application.

Before the P&Z vote on the application, Mr O’Neil said he had researched whether the P&Z could allow the alternative high school to use the new commercial building for a limited period, such as three years, and under certain restrictions, but said there is no precedent for such an approval.

The chairman then suggested that the P&Z slightly modify the zoning rule change that was proposed by school officials. But making such a rule change on September 2 would not have allowed for public comment on such a change, Mr O’Neil said.

Alternately, the P&Z could reject the school system’s rule change proposal and then craft its own version of the regulation, which it might then approve following another public hearing, he said.

Mr O’Neil cautioned P&Z members against modifying the school system’s proposed rule change on the night of September 2, saying that such a rapid approach is fraught with pitfalls. “Our history of writing regulations in a meeting has not been good,” he said, noting that time and circumspection are necessary when regulations are formulated, due to the broader potentially unforeseen adverse effects of revised regulations.

P&Z members must think broadly when rewriting zoning regulations, Ms Dean said. Such regulations apply to the entire town.

Mr O’Neil said it did not appear that the school board had considered any other possible locations for the alternative school, other than the building now under construction at 7 Berkshire Road.

“This is almost like an emergency situation,” he said of school officials’ urgency over locating the alternative high school in that commercial building.

Ms Dean said allowing such a public school use in a commercial zone would be inconsistent with the provisions of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

After The Vote

After voting 3-to-1 to turn down the school system’s rule change application, P&Z members then discussed the advisability of their crafting some zoning regulation that would allow the alternative high school to locate in the commercially zoned space at 7 Berkshire Road. Such a rule would be more restrictive than the regulation that was proposed by the school system, but would still have allowed a public school in that building.

The chairman said he supports the school system’s having an alternative high school, but cautioned P&Z members that in acting hastily to revise the zoning rules, there could be unforeseen consequences.

“It’s a tough decision” as to whether the P&Z should rewrite zoning rules to accommodate the school system’s desire to use 7 Berkshire Road for a school, said P&Z member Jane Brymer. Ms Brymer said she prefers not to allow noncommercial uses in commercial zones.

From a land use regulation standpoint, the best option is not locating a public school in a commercial area, Mr O’Neil said.

Ms Dean said putting such a noncommercial use in a commercial zone does not broaden the local property tax base.

After polling the six P&Z members present, Mr O’Neil said the agency would not revise the land use rules to accommodate the school system’s desire to use 7 Berkshire Road for the alternative high school.

After the P&Z discussion, Mary Ann Snieckus, who is a teacher at the alternative high school, said that students who attended the P&Z meeting now understand the complexity of the issue.

The alternative high school students need suitable quarters for their program, which is a viable educational program, she said.

“To have this happen tonight is a big disappointment to them,” she said.