|
November 11, 2003
Mr. Geoffrey Griffis, Chair
Board of Zoning Adjustment
441 4th Street, NW, Suite 210-S
Washington, DC 20001
Dear Chairman Griffis:
ANC 3D, with a quorum (4) present at all times, and with proper notification
of this meeting to the public, heard a presentation at its November 5
meeting from St. Patrick's School on the need to establish a new faculty and
staff cap for its elementary school. ANC 3D believes that the school
deserves to be commended for coming forward, however belated, with a
solution that will end a years-long legerdemain and establish a cap that
realistically reflects the current size of faculty and staff.
St. Patrick's Elementary School informed the Commission of its Application
(#17081) to the BZA for a hearing and to ask for the Commission's approval
of a proposed new cap on faculty and staff. Considerable discussion ensued
on the concept and impact of FTEs (Full Time Equivalents), as it was
difficult for some members of the Commission to understand the necessity for
this new method of counting faculty and staff. Concern was expressed by some
members of the Commission that by allowing the FTE method of counting there
is less assurance the school would stay within its numerical cap, while also
acknowledging the need to find employment for teachers who, for a variety of
reasons, might need to move from full-time to part-time teaching or to
administrative status.
Peter Barrett, Headmaster of the school, maintained that the cap it is
currently seeking is imposed by provision in the zoning code that states the
school must provide 2 spaces for every 3 employees. As parking has reached
capacity in the school's gymnasium, and in the space it leases from the Army
Corps of Engineers, which the Headmaster claimed was a visitor's lot (BZA
#16852, May 21, 2002, page 258), and in the diagonal spaces leased from the
District, any spillage into the surrounding neighborhood would become
objectionable to neighbors. The ANC is hopeful that the new cap proposed by
the school will be strictly adhered to. If it is, it will help reduce the
distrust that has built up over the years between the school and the ANC.
The new cap also will end a charade played out by the school and its lawyers
over the past decade that the BZA had imposed a cap only on "staff," not on
the size of the school faculty. During that period, St. Patrick's faculty
and staff grew from 60 to 103. The school has admitted the errors of its
ways in seeking a new cap that reflects the real size of its faculty and
staff. ANC 3D also would like to take some credit for calling the school's
attention to its misleading cap of the past.
The underlying purpose of a cap on faculty and staff, of course, is to make
sure a school lives within its boundaries and does not impose objectionable
conditions, such as parking, upon its neighbors. Even with the proposed new
cap for St. Patrick's, parking by private schools remains a problem in our
Palisades neighborhood. St. Patrick's Elementary School shares Whitehaven
Parkway with George Washington's
Mt. Vernon Campus, Our Lady of Victory Elementary School and The Lab School
of Washington. Some of these schools employ numerous teachers, probably in
excess of BZA caps, who find they must park on residential streets because
their campuses cannot supply off-street parking. Many neighborhood streets
are currently filled to capacity with cars from outside the neighborhood. It
is no longer a situation where the parking is "likely to become
objectionable" under Section 206 of the zoning code. Private school parking
has become objectionable and therefore a specific cap that reflects reality
is critical in the case of St. Patrick's and in the future for other private
schools in the Palisades neighborhood.
With two distinct locations--the elementary school on Whitehaven and a new
junior high on MacArthur and Ashby St., some Commissioners expressed concern
about overlap and sharing of faculty and staff on both the elementary school
and junior high campuses as this could lead to potential problems in
tracking teachers on both campuses in the future.
As a result of its deliberations ANC 3D strongly encourages inclusion of the
following conditions when the BZA Order for this application is written:
1. St. Patrick's Elementary School will hold quarterly meetings with ANC
3D and the community;
2. St. Patrick's Elementary School will not return to the ANC or the BZA for
any further expansion of faculty, staff or students for a period of five (5)
years from the date of issuance of the BZA Order; and
3. St. Patrick's Elementary School will provide the ANC and the BZA with a
yearly report on staffing and faculty levels with a break down of full-time
and part-time employees.
After weighing the proposal from St. Patrick's Elementary School, Advisory
Neighborhood Commission 3D, voted 7-0-0 to approve, with conditions, the "[S]pecial
exception to permit 93 faculty and staff for an existing child development
center and private school in the R-1-B Zone District pursuant to Sections
205 and 206 of the Zoning Regulations at premises 4700 Whitehaven Pkwy., NW
(Square 1372 and Square 1374, Lot 5)." The Commission hopes the BZA will
accord the Commission's views the "great weight" to which it is entitled by
law.
Sincerely,
John W. Finney
Chair |
