School district gets final nod to build from Planning & Zoning

Thursday, May 7, 2009

By LENNY C. LEPOLA
News Assistant Managing Editor

What’s that line from Field of Dreams? Build it and they will come.

There may be some truth to a line from that film, or it may just be a modern bromide – it sounds good so it makes us feel better without being true. Too many things we accept as truth are just that – bromides.

But one thing is true in the modern world: Before you can build anything you have to apply for and receive a zoning certificate that allows you to proceed with your project.

And if you don’t think that’s the truth, just ask Big Walnut Local School District Superintendent Steve Mazzi and the members of his team.

In November of last year, Big Walnut voters approved a 2.9 mil Bond Issue designed to raise $30 million over 28 years to fund two new school buildings.

The first building on the district’s agenda is a K though Grade 4 elementary school slatted for construction on South Miller Drive in Sunbury.

The South Miller Drive property - 21 acres that was given to the village by developer Vince Romanelli - falls under the umbrella of a joint-venture agreement between the school district and the Village of Sunbury that was inked a decade ago when Dr. Melissa Conrath was at the district helm.

The joint venture agreement states that if voters approved a bond issue to construct a school on the site by 2010 the village would deed five acres of the site to the school district. The agreement also requires the school district to invest $1.2 million to develop the remaining acreage as public parkland, complete with shelters, a trail, athletic fields, and public restrooms, and then maintain that parkland.

District voters approved the bond issue while former superintendent April Domine was still with the district, Domine got the project moving forward with the selection of Fanning Howey as the architectural firm that will design both new school buildings and a new district bus facility.

Domine, however, left the district at the end of February to lead a Michael and Susan Dell Foundation funded education research project for the Houston Independent School District.

And on March 23, just three weeks into his position as district superintendent, Mazzi had to ask members of the Village of Sunbury Planning & Zoning Commission for six variances and a zoning certificate. The variances were for site elements that deviated from village zoning code, and the zoning certificate was required before construction activities could begin.

Mazzi also asked for a timely approval process to allow the project to go out to public bid in May and construction activities to begin in June, paving the way for an August, 2010 building occupancy.

Members of the zoning commission granted the coveted zoning certificate, but with strings attached in the form of contingencies; and even if the contingencies were satisfied, the zoning certificate request still had to survive three readings at Sunbury Village Council and a statutory 30 day waiting period before the ordinance would become effective and the zoning certificate issued.

When Ordinance 2009-11 was introduced during the Wednesday, April 1, village council meeting, emergency language had been placed in the ordinance. If the emergency language were approved prior to ordinance passage, the 30 waiting period would be eliminated.

During a second reading of Ordinance 2009-11 on Wednesday, April 15, it was noted that most of the contingencies had been resolved, but there were questions about whether the $1.2 million the school district committed to spending on the site in 2000 would fund 2009 site development costs plus the current cost of other amenities required by the agreement.

Also during the second reading, council member Robert Bishop objected to emergency language in Ordinance 2009-11; without emergency language in the ordinance, it would be unlikely that the school district could meet an August, 2010 occupancy date, even if the project were put on an accelerated critical path timeline.

Last Wednesday, following the third reading of 2009-11, council members, district administrators and attorneys for both sides entered an executive session that lasted several hours.

When they came out of executive session, village solicitor David Brehm said the nice thing about a small community is that when conflict arises people come together and form partnerships.

“The school building will go forward and the school district will design additional parkland improvements,” Brehm said. “The village has agreed to a tree replacement reduction, the school district will build a multi-use trail, restrooms, and shelters at the park.”

Brehm said the public three-season restrooms would be locked when school is open as a security measure.

Emergency language in Ordinance 2009-11 was approved 5-0, council member Jennifer Witt was not present, the ordinance was approved, 5-0.

“This partnership and this project is going to provide a wonderful community facility for families and children for many years into the future,” Mazzi said following the vote. “What we did tonight we did for kids.”

In an email issued last Friday, Mazzi said the school district administration is pleased that village council members worked with the district on cost items, allowing the project to happen within budget.

“This was a true collaboration that resulted in a win-win for the entire Big Walnut community,” Mazzi wrote. “Obviously we are very pleased that we were able to secure a zoning certificate for the project so that we could move forward and have kids walking down the halls of a new elementary school by the fall of 2010.

“We have to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders with this project, including voters in the Big Walnut community who gave us a mandate to be certain that every student has adequate classroom space, and the students who will be walking the halls and playing outside of this new facility,” Mazzi continued. “The positive vote from Sunbury Village Council was more than a vote for the school and the community; it was a vote for Big Walnut children.”

Sunbury Village Council meets the first and third Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m., third floor council chambers, Town Hall. Council committees meet one hour before regularly scheduled council sessions. All village council and council committee meetings are open to the public.