City of Gainesville - File #: 150698.

• File #: 150698.
• Version: 1
• Type: Petition
• Status: To Be Introduced
• File created: 1/21/2016
• In control: City Plan Board
• On agenda: 1/28/2016
• Final action: 1/28/2016
• Title: Change an existing Special Use Permit for a K - 9th grade school to add 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for the Newberry Christian Community School (B) Petition PB-15-157 SUP. Newberry Christian Community School, agent for Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Change an existing Special Use Permit for a K - 9th grade school to add 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for the Newberry Christian Community School. Zoned: RSF-1: 3.5 units/acre single-family residential district. Located at 3536 NW 8th Avenue.

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
1/28/2016	1	City Plan Board	Approved	Pass

Title

Change an existing Special Use Permit for a K - 9th grade school to add 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for the Newberry Christian Community School (B)

Petition PB-15-157 SUP.    Newberry Christian Community School, agent for Vineyard Christian Fellowship.  Change an existing Special Use Permit for a K - 9th grade school to add 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for the Newberry Christian Community School.  Zoned: RSF-1: 3.5 units/acre single-family residential district.  Located at 3536 NW 8th Avenue.

Explanation

This is a request to change an existing special use permit (SUP) for a pre-K through 9^th grade, private school in order to add 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grades and to increase the maximum number of students permitted by the SUP.  The existing SUP was approved by Petition 115 SUP00-PB on August 17, 2000 for a maximum of 140 students on this developed, 4.6-acre property that is owned by the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church.  The property is currently used for: a place of religious assembly by several denominations; a 27-child daycare center (A Child’s Garden Daycare); a 40-student afterschool program (Gainesville’s After School Program (GASP)); and a 227-student, pre-K through 12^th grade private school (Newberry Christion Community School (NCCS)) that opened on January 4, 2016.  The current total, per a January 12, 2016 e-mail from NCCS is 294 students (includes 27 daycare center children and 40 afterschool program children).

No new development is proposed for this property that was developed in the 1980s.  No increase in the number of daycare children for the existing 27-child daycare center (A Child’s Daycare Center) is proposed, and there is no proposed increase in the existing 40-student afterschool program for this proposed SUP.  The applicant is proposing a maximum of 475 students.   Staff is recommending a maximum of 375 students, which is acceptable to the applicant.

The 4.6-acre property is in the RSF-1: 3.5 units per acre single-family residential district, which allows private schools and daycare centers by special use permit. The SUP (and related minor development plan) that were approved in 2000 incorporated the decades-old daycare center use but limited classroom use to the first floor.  Applicable building and life safety codes in effect at that time precluded educational use on the second floor.  Changes in those codes since 2000 have resulted in educational use of the second floor no longer being precluded, and a maximum overall capacity of 667 students (based on the fire code requirement of 20 sq. ft. per student, and 13,345 sq. ft. (figure provided by the applicant) of usable classroom space. 

This property abuts developed, single-family residential properties to the north and west.  Adjacent to the east is Littlewood Elementary School.  To the south is NW 8^th Avenue, a 4-lane City of Gainesville roadway.

Fiscal Note

None.

Recommendation

Staff to City Plan Board - Approve Petition PB-14-157 SUP with the conditions stated in the staff report.