The Antietam School District has secured the zoning relief needed to enact its plan to rehouse students for the 2024-25 school year after a summer flood devastated the district’s middle senior high school.
In hearings Monday and Wednesday, the Mount Penn Zoning Hearing Board voted to grant special exceptions for the district’s proposed use of the Mount Penn elementary center and primary center, borough officials said in a press release Thursday.
The plan involves major renovations to the Mount Penn primary center, which will be modified to house grades nine through 12.
Grades three through eight will be split into two houses within the Mount Penn elementary center.
The district is finalizing the purchase of the Berks County Intermediate Unite early learning center at 704 Friedensburg Road for grades kindergarten through two.
An earlier hearing for the Mount Penn elementary center was rescheduled late in February to give the borough time to find new members of the zoning hearing board, which at the time had only two members after the resignation of Tera Walters.
Zoning hearing board member Calvin Hess also recently resigned, borough officials noted.
The borough has since brought on three new members, Ryan Kehl, a regular voting member, and two alternates, Tianna Schaeffer and Clark Bussey.
At both meetings, Kehl, Schaeffer and Charles Willaims voted 3-0 to approve the special exceptions.
“We are pleased that a resolution to this challenge has been found and that our community is moving forward,” borough officials said in a press release. “Students will be in buildings next school year, and we will continue working with the Antietam School District to ensure that neighborhoods most affected by the changes at these buildings are supported as we work through the parking, traffic, and safety requirements.”
Officials noted that the borough will be responsible for awarding building permits and conducting inspections of work as required.
“We anticipate that the first stage of building permits will be approved before the end of March so that the district will be able to begin work on the timetable they have outlined publicly,” borough officials said.
Work on the primary center is slated to start later this month or in April, after the school board awards a contract for the project.
The plan is to have the building’s first floor classroom space ready for use before school starts, and the kitchen and cafeteria ready by September.
Work on the second floor will continue after school hours through 2025, according to the district.
The plan aims to ensure that the facilities will be complete in time for all students to attend class in person next school year.
That goal has been largely supported by members of the Antietam community who have spoken up at recent borough and school board meetings.
Students and parents stressed the negative impacts that learning from behind a screen can have on students’ social development, mental health, and performance in school.
Not all Mount Penn residents are in favor of the district’s plans—some living near the schools have said that parking in their area has become increasingly difficult due to school staff taking up public spaces on streets.
To provide adequate parking at the elementary center, the district has leased 37 private parking spaces, and has agreements with St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic Church and Trinity United Church of Christ for another 55 spaces, according to the zoning hearing board’s decision letter.
The district has adequate parking to accommodate the plan to house grades 3-8 in the elementary center, the letter said.
One condition of the approval of the special exception for use of the elementary center requires the district to update the borough annually with enrollment and faculty numbers to ensure that adequate parking is maintained.
Borough manger Hunter Ahrens noted that the borough anticipates no delays to the district’s building plans.
“The only thing that could happen is if somebody appeals the decision,” Ahrens said. “From the borough’s perspective, we hope there will be no appeal…This does everything the district was seeking and we believe it makes sure that kids will be in school in August. Any appeals…would endanger that.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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