Palm Street Area Residents Association members Coleen Sterritt, left, and Nancy Rothwell testify at the county Planning Commission meeting this morning, from county video feed.
UPDATES: We have new comments from PSARA and Arroyo Pacific at the end of the story.
by Timothy Rutt
By a 3-2 vote, the county Planning Commission turned down the Arroyo Pacific Academy's (APA) application for a conditional use permit to open a school on Palm Street.
Those who opposed the school, many members of the Palm Street Area Resident's Association (PSARA), cited the neighborhood's experience when another, unrelated, school illegally opened on the same property with 250 students in 2008, creating problems with traffic and noise that residents said were evidence that a school would never fit on the property.
Arroyo Pacific President Philip Clarke's assurances that the school's traffic plan would have little impact on the neighborhood didn't convince the residents, who not only cited the traffic problems from the illegal school, but conducted their own critique of APA's traffic plan.
One of the speakers from PSARA quoted an analysis by Bruce Linsenmeyer, an Altadena resident and retired Pasadena police commander who was formerly a traffic lieutenant with that department. Linsenmeyer estimate that one student would have to be unloaded every nine seconds for the traffic plan submitted by Arroyo Pacific to work.
APA biology teacher Nancy Hauser speaks in favor of the permit.
Several residents also said that daily traffic jams on the narrow, sidewalk-free street could affect emergency vehicle access, particularly on Raymond Avenue, the narrow street just east of the Arroyo Pacific property.
Arroyo Pacific supporters said the town council, PSARA, and other opponents of the school "rebuffed … every opportunity to dialogue," said Elizabeth Hanks, an attorney for Arroyo Pacific. Hanks said that the school implemented many changes and conditions on its own in the course of the application, but "received absolutely no feedback on it."
Arroyo Pacific's attempt to get a conditional use permit to operate the school has been rejected twice in different versions by the Altadena Town Council and Land Use Committee.
Proponents generally talked about the quality of education Arroyo Pacific delivers, although some spoke more against the opposition. Others affirmed the school's traffic plan, pointing out that traffic would only be an issue twice a day during the 180 days a year school would be in session.
APA Principal Joe Blackman said that his school should not be judged by the example of the previous illegal school, as that school did not have a CUP, a traffic plan, did not encourage carpooling, nor cared about the neighborhood -- all things that APA says it has addressed.
Blackman also wondered why the planning staff recommended denial of the CUP, despite APA meeting county standards.
Also speaking for the school was John Maust, an APA teacher who is living at the home that is part of the property, colloquially known as the "Bugsy Siegel Villa" -- local legend has it belonged to the gangster's mistress. Maust said that, as a neighborhood resident, he tried unsuccessfully to join PSARA. Maust also claimed that he tried to attend a meeting about the school at his town councilman's house with two other council members attending, and was kicked out.
The villa is in the district of council member Okorie Eziemie, who spoke against the permit at the meeting. (UPDATE: Eziemie said that he offered his house to PSARA to use for a meeting, but was otherwise not involved with the gathering and did not kick anyone out himself.)
Philip Clarke and APA should not be held responsible for the experiences of the previous school, Maust said.
In discussion, Commissioner Harold V. Helsley spoke in favor of the school, pointing out that it was an institutional property that had been in use as a public facility since 1957. Helsley proposed a short term, 3-5 year CUP to see if it would work out.
Commissioner Esther L. Valadez noted that the audience was almost perfectly balanced between those wearing blue (APA supporters) and those wearing red (PSARA members). While she said that testimony showed Arroyo Pacific to be an "extraordinary school" at its Arcadia campus, from a land use position, she was going to support the denial recommended by staff.
APA has until April 18 to appeal the denial to the county board of supervisors.
UPDATE 4/5: Nancy Rothwell of PSARA emails us:
Today represents another victory for PSARA. We have prevailed at all five hearings so far: the Altadena Land Use Committee (twice), the Altadena Town Council (twice), and the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission (today). If Phillip Clarke chooses to appeal today's decision, PSARA expects to prevail once again at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. We Palm Street neighbors have nothing against Arroyo Pacific Academy, and nothing against Phillip Clarke, but 183 - 205 East Palm Street in Altadena is simply not an appropriate location for a high school.
APA President Philip Clarke has emailed:
The meeting speaks for itself. I have not made a final decision on appeal.
