Sebastopol charter school hopes for council blessing

A 20-year quest for a permanent location that would unify Sebastopol Independent Charter School students on a single campus seemingly lacks only formal approval from Sonoma County planning commissioners next month before construction preparations can begin.

And while at its meeting tonight the Sebastopol City Council can neither approve the project nor necessarily block it, past objections council members have raised about potential traffic impacts, public safety and development beyond city limits have school leaders mustering support to ensure no last-minute objections thwart their bid for county approval.

Chris Topham, executive director for the Waldorf-inspired K-8 institution, said he believes his organization has done everything necessary to address concerns first posed by council members 18 months ago, after the school applied for a county use permit enabling construction of a new campus at 1080 and 1088 Hurlbut Ave. north of the town.

In particular, the school worked closely with Sonoma County Regional Parks on signage and other measures to preserve the safety and right-of-way for cyclists and pedestrians where the new school driveway would cross the West County/Joe Rodota trail.

But Topham said the initial negativity relayed by the council came as such a surprise he’s not sure what to expect when the matter comes up at the council’s meeting.

“The bottom line, in my opinion, is this is not a controversial situation,” Topham said. “This is simply a charter school finally getting into a place of security and survival by being on a unified, permanent and owned campus.”

The school is renting classroom space for K-2 students at Brook Haven Middle School through July 2017. Many parents pick up and deliver kids to two different schools at peak traffic time.

The 292-student school, headquartered in downtown Sebastopol, currently owns a building on South Main Street, where students grades 3-to-8 attend class. Those kids have recess at a public park that requires crossing several busy streets and sometimes witnessing smoking, drunkenness and arguments, Topham said.

Sebastopol City Mayor Sarah Gurney said it’s appropriate for the city to do everything possible to ensure the city’s interests are protected when there’s a new development on its doorstep.

Gurney said she has her own hesitations about the safety and traffic generated by student families funneling through town from the west and south each morning and afternoon, particularly where roads may lack sidewalks, crosswalks and signals. While she appreciates the liveliness the school contributes to downtown, she’s not sure how the council will view the planned campus at this point in time.

The school launched a search for a permanent site soon after its 1995 founding. It’s taken most of the time since then to lock one down.

In late 2013 it finally closed on a mostly empty 20-acre lot abutting city limits northeast of where Mill Station Road meets Gravenstein Highway North, just north of the O’Reilly Media campus. The site, now containing only a residence and swimming pool surrounded by open fields, is bordered by Hurlbut Avenue, Apple Blossom Lane and the West County/Joe Rodota Trail.

It is owned by the school’s nonprofit foundation.

The site is zoned rural residential, which could permit construction of as many as 10 new homes, each with a legal second unit, at full build-out, school representatives said. But in a plan worked out in part through coordination with county planning staff, the school will leave half the site as open space and develop only 10 acres, with built square footage accounting for less than an acre in total. School officials hope to start the 2017 school year there.

The county planning staff has recommended approval of a use permit for the school. Planning commissioners are scheduled to hold a June 2 hearing.

Tonight’s City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris St., though the school matter is scheduled to come up late on the agenda.