Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School principal Shahe Garabedian told Altadenablog this afternoon that the school's board of directors will meet Monday to consider a response to the county's notice of violation.
Garabedian said that the notice was delivered Thursday afternoon. He said that he'd been unaware that the county would serve the notice, and when it arrived, he'd already been blindsided with the volume of phone calls and questions after the Altadenablog story ran that morning. Garabedian said that the school would make an official response after the board meeting.
Natalie said…
David,
Thank you for the kind reply, and as I stated earlier I live right across the street from a day care/preschool and when the daycare filed with the city to take up half the block for a family couseling center for abused families and to expand the size of the day care our city held a public hearing to allow the community to voice their opinions about the proposal, I just do not understand why the City of Altadena did not do the say before allowing the school to even purchase the property, that’s all.
In the end if relocation is necessary I feel sorry for our kids and the fact that their education will be disrupted.
And I do understand that eveyone states it is the schools fault for not informing us as parents but for such a big change to come to a neighborhood I believe the city should have dealt differently, also.
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 01:39 PM
Michael Reilly said…
Natalie; The question you should ask the board of this school is who represented them in the purchase of this property and why were they given such poor advise. It would have been part of normal disclosure that there were limitations imposed to the Bienvenidos Conditional Use Permit, and it would have been obvious to any real estate professional that Sahag Mesrob’s intended use would not fly. This based on the fact that residents of this community had objected to the lesser use Bienvenidos originally requested for the property.
Regards Michael David Reilly
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 02:45 PM
Coleen Sterritt said…
Natalie,
The reason that there was a public hearing for the daycare center is that they abided by the law and followed the CUP process.
If your administrators had followed the law and completed the CUP process BEFORE moving in, there would have been 2 public hearings, one with the Altadena Land Use Committee and the final with the County commissioners. These HEARINGS are part of the process. At that time, it would have been determined whether the site was appropriate or not for your school’s intentions. It was not up to the city of Altadena to initiate a hearing as stated earlier by the altadenablog. Altadena is unincorporated. It is not a city itslf, so we are under jurisdiction of L.A. County. We go by their rules.
Why your administrators purchased this property without having all the facts is beyond me. That’s a question to be asked of them. They’ve stated they were in contact with authorities “on a weekly basis”. This doesn’t appear to be true, if so, the school wouldn’t be in this situation. The school administration has done you and your children a great disservice.
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 02:47 PM
Brian L said…
Natalie and others
My understanding is the Sahag Mesrob School filed for a CUP requesting to use the site for a Nursery through 12th grade school on May 28, 2008. According to LA County’s website the project number is R2008-00985 and the permit number was T200800095. I question why a decision was made by the school to occupy the site as a school during the time period the County was reviewing the conditional use request. Someone affiliated with the school had to have been familiar with the permit process to have submitted the CUP application. David’s earlier post regarding disclosure from the Real Estate Agent certainly rings true here. Any competent Real Estate professional would have advised the Sahag Mesrob school the limitations of the site and the need for a CUP. A competent agent would have also advised the school to make a purchase offer contingent upon LA County granting a CUP for the school’s intended use.
(slightly edited by the blogmaster)
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 03:57 PM