Politics & Government
315-Student Cap, No Third-Party Lease Under Los Gatos Hillbrook School Permit
Interpretation of campus' uses comes after more than 50 residents address Los Gatos Town Council Monday evening.
After nearly two years of complaints from residents in the Marchmont Drive neighborhood, it appears Hillbrook School in Los Gatos will have to adhere to its conditional-use permit, which officials said Monday evening means no more than 315 students.
Los Gatos Mayor Barbara Spector, speaking at the end of a long meeting and after listening to about 50 residents, said that would be the maximum number of students enrolled permitted at the private campus located at 300 Marchmont Drive.
Spector then said the educational institution's professional development component does not include conferences on site and that outside schools' tournaments won't be allowed on the premises, either.
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Also, all programs offered by the school must be within the 315 students allowed enrolled, Spector said.
The Los Gatos Town Council was in consensus on all those stipulations that came after a meeting was set to interpret the school's CUP.
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Complaints against the school began in June of 2012 when neighbors said the campus was violating its permit and asked the Council to help interpret it to bring the alleged violations under control.
Residents were upset with what they perceived was an increase in traffic counts and leasing the campus to third parties. Several residents wrote letters to the editor to Los Gatos Patch expressing their frustrations with the school.
Monday's meeting was not intended to revoke the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school's permit, nor to discuss a pending application it's submitted to modify its permit.
Residents had also complained about after-school programs, weekend use of the campus, nighttime activities and other issues that they said negatively impacted the neighborhood.
The school has already cancelled many of the activities deemed inappropriate by the residents such as some conferences and held a mediation session with neighbors.
An environmental impact report is being prepared for the school's CUP modification application, which could be heard by the Los Gatos Planning Commission in the fall of 2013, a staff report said.
"We just provided direction on interpretation," said Los Gatos Vice Mayor Steven Leonardis about the meeting. "The Breakthrough Silicon Valley program that they were running can't exceed the maxinum number of students," he said.
"They want to still expand the CUP. They want up to 414 students. That will be heard by the Council sometime in October," Leonardis explained. "I think that the Council handled this issue very well. The next steps in the process is what will happen in the future with their expansion plans via increased student enrollment. That's all still up in the air."
Hillbrook School spokeswoman Megan Stevens said many supporters Monday evening explained the campus' programs and why they are important to its operations.
"In the end, the Town Council reaffirmed the town staff’s interpretations of the majority of the CUP, leaving us operating in the same way we have been operating for over a decade. In addition, the Town Council reaffirmed, much as staff has, that our current CUP lacks clarity and that it will be important to address that as we look to revise our CUP in the coming months," Stevens said.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Letter to the Editor: Los Gatos Hillbrook School Violates Permit
- Opinion: Deny Hillbrook School's Request to Expand
- Opinion: Let Hillbrook School Grow Enrollment
- Letter: Hillbrook School Violates Conditional Use Permit
- Letter to the Editor: Hillbrook School Misleads Public
- Opinion: Hillbrook School Should Not Be Allowed to Expand
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