Commission to look at rules for school

Deirdre Newman

The Planning Commission on Monday will consider changing some

requirements for the Prince of Peace school, in response to

neighbors’ concerns that school officials are violating city rules.

Residents who live near the school, which is on Baker Street, have

complained about the planting of ficus trees, the number of

preschoolers on the campus and the school’s use of a walkway next to

the Baker Street driveway.

On Monday, the commission will consider requiring church officials

to address any problems that might be caused by the ficus trees and

their roots; consider allowing a maximum of 315 students on site

without differentiating between preschool and elementary students;

and consider allowing the school to use of the sidewalk next to the

Baker Street driveway.

While school officials say they are happy to abide by all three,

some residents say the city is thereby rewarding the violations by

just changing the original conditions for approval of the school.

“It seems to the citizens of Costa Mesa that the ‘conditions of

approval’ only means ‘suggestions of approval,’” resident Edward Kao

said.

In January 1999, the Planning Commission approved an application

that allowed the Prince of Peace church to put in four modular

buildings on its property. Off-site parking at the United Methodist

Church site across Baker Street was approved to help out the school.

The commission also required planting screening trees and shrubs

between the buildings and the Baker Street property line.

Church officials say they’re amenable to all three.

“We’re looking forward to moving forward on this situation and

getting this behind us and getting to be better neighbors with our

neighbors,” said Keith Kerslake, school administrator.

The church planted 30 ficus trees without city approval along a

portion of the Baker Street frontage and 35 trees on the Mesa Verde

Drive Eats frontage. After the trees were planted, some neighbors

voiced their concerns that the tree roots would damage city sidewalks

and pose hazards to pedestrians. These neighbors wanted the trees

removed. Instead, church officials installed root barriers.

Planning staff members feel that requiring the church to shoulder

the cost of repairing any sidewalk damage that could be caused by the

ficus trees in the future will suffice.

Kao thinks otherwise.

“I think they’re just trying to push it down -- delay the problem

instead of solving it the right way, because this not a matter of if,

it’s a matter of when,” Kao said. “If you don’t take them out while

they’re still young, then it will be a bigger problem down the road.”

Neighbors also expressed concern about the school not complying

with its requirement to allow only 15 preschool students on the site

at any one time. Planning staff found that the requirement also

allows 300 kindergarten through eighth-grade grade students.

The school has 253 students. Since the school is not exceeding the

maximum number of students, city workers found that the number of

preschoolers versus all other students was not so important a

calculation. So it is recommending the requirement be changed to set

a maximum on the number of students.

Kao pointed out that there were state mandates that contributed to

the limit on the number of preschoolers allowed.

“We are puzzled that instead of asking the Prince of Peace

[school] to reduce its preschool population, the city staff rewarded

their violation by asking the Planning Commission to change the

condition,” Kao said.

Serving more preschoolers -- some in the morning and some in the

afternoon -- is beneficial to the neighborhood because it breaks up

the time they’re brought and picked up throughout the day, Kerslake

said.

The commission will also consider whether the school should be

allowed to use the walkway next to the Baker Street driveway. One of

the school’s requirements is that parents not use the Baker Street

driveway for pedestrian access. So the church built the walkway to

compensate.

Planning staff believes that it’s better to allow parents and

students to use this walkway instead of making them walk around the

coroner to the Mesa Verde Drive entrance -- through a driveway,

without pedestrian protection. So it is suggesting changing the

requirement to allow the use of the walkway.

Kao is concerned that the walkway, which empties onto Baker

Street, is dangerous because the street is a main thoroughfare and

doesn’t contain any pedestrian markings to connect the school to the

off-site parking.

Since church officials are receptive to the new requirements, it

bodes well for approval, Planning Commission Chairman Bruce Garlich

said.