Pictured: the property at 183 E. Palm that Arroyo Pacific Academy wants for a satellite arts campus.
The Altadena Town Council rejected Arroyo Pacific Academy’s second bid to put a high school on 183 East Palm St.
The council went along with the Land Use Committee’s recommendation earlier this month to reject a conditional use permit for the high school, which would be an arts-centered satellite campus to the private Arcadia-based school. The council will make that recommendation to the county board of supervisors, which has the final say.
Arroyo Pacific Academy President Philip Clarke said after the meeting that “we’re preparing for the next step in the process, the hearing with the supervisors April 4.”
Town council chair Sandra Thomas held to a strict format Tuesday night: eight minutes for Arroyo Pacific to make its case, ten minutes for opposing viewpoints, and two minutes for the school to rebut.
Clarke said that the school was going to hold no more than 200 students at a time, starting at 80 the first year and ramping up to 200 by the third year. There would be a maximum of 17 teachers and administrators and three staff members on campus.
Arroyo Pacific presented figures showing that the majority of letters about the school supported it. However, the neighborhood group that would be affected by the school disputed Arroyo Pacific’s figures.
Coleen Sterritt of the Palm Street Area Residents’ Association (PSARA) called Arroyo Pacific’s number “misleading.” She and PSARA member Nancy Rothwell viewed letters to county regional planning in the case file and found 455 letters in opposition and 281 supporting.
by Timothy Rutt
The Altadena Town Council rejected Arroyo Pacific Academy’s second bid to put a high school on 183 East Palm St.
The council went along with the Land Use Committee’s recommendation earlier this month to reject a conditional use permit for the high school, which would be an arts-centered satellite campus to the private Arcadia-based school. The council will make that recommendation to the county board of supervisors, which has the final say.
Arroyo Pacific Academy President Philip Clarke said after the meeting that “we’re preparing for the next step in the process, the hearing with the supervisors April 4.”
Town council chair Sandra Thomas held to a strict format Tuesday night: eight minutes for Arroyo Pacific to make its case, ten minutes for opposing viewpoints, and two minutes for the school to rebut.
Clarke said that the school was going to hold no more than 200 students at a time, starting at 80 the first year and ramping up to 200 by the third year. There would be a maximum of 17 teachers and administrators and three staff members on campus.
Arroyo Pacific presented figures showing that the majority of letters about the school supported it. However, the neighborhood group that would be affected by the school disputed Arroyo Pacific’s figures.
Coleen Sterritt of the Palm Street Area Residents’ Association (PSARA) called Arroyo Pacific’s number “misleading.” She and PSARA member Nancy Rothwell viewed letters to county regional planning in the case file and found 455 letters in opposition and 281 supporting.