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| | Fight over 12th Street NE
charter school continues | | November 20, 2009 | | | | Staff Writer | | The years-old charter school case that prompted a change in city zoning laws is still causing rancor in the neighborhood surrounding a controversial row house at 138 12th St. NE., the planned new home for AppleTree Institute.
AppleTree, after enduring battles with the city and the Northeast Capitol Hill (ANC 6A) advisory neighborhood commission, is set to go before the D.C. Public Charter School Board next month to gain permission to operate a charter school in the refurbished row house with a partial third-floor addition. But the neighborhood commission, after some debate, voted to convince the charter school board not to allow the school to open there.
The school’s purchase of the 90-year-old row house in July 2006 set off a chain of events that ultimately led the city to bar public charter schools from locating anywhere they choose in a residential district, a right that regular public schools still possess. But AppleTree, which wants to host at least 60 preschool students and 18-to-20-person staff in the row house it bought for $1.5 million, was grandfathered into the previous zoning code and now has a building permit in hand.
“The current zoning laws would not allow this,” said commission chair Joe Fengler, referring to rules that now require charter schools to abide by various zoning restrictions, such as mandating a certain amount of street frontage. “This is something the city has already ruled is an inappropriate site.”
Commissioner David Holmes, who plans to represent the commission before the charter school board, and several other commissioners said the main problem is traffic and parking — where and how the small children will be picked up and dropped off.
Ultimately, commissioner Bill Schultheiss said, the city will likely be forced to restrict parking on the block to allow room for parents to walk their children into the school.
“There’s going to be a lot of problems,” he said.
But commissioners Kelvin Robinson and Mary Beatty were opposed to the commission’s continued involvement in the case, saying they support charter schools and don’t see the site as problematic.
“This is very NIMBY to me: ‘I’m in favor of charter schools but I don’t want them in my neighborhood,’” said commissioner Mary Beatty.
In fact, Beatty said she would welcome the school in her single-member district — 6B05.
Robinson also complained that it was unfair that AppleTree officials didn’t seem to have been invited to the meeting to defend the location. AppleTree, which operates charter schools at three other locations in the city, did not return phone calls from the Voice.
Ultimately the commission voted to support a slightly altered resolution that deleted a term indicating the commission “vigorously” opposed the school’s chosen location, but maintained the commission’s opposition. Commissioners Robinson and Beatty voted against the resolution, and commissioner Raphael Marshall abstained from the vote.
The charter school board will vote on the location and the school’s enrollment ceiling at a Dec. 21 meeting at 7:30 p.m. at 3333 14th St. NW. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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