Site Struggles 5/1/05

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=130 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000820ezvthe.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Clare Whitbeck's Web Site</B></FONT><B>   |  </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clare Whitbecks Web Site"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Column 2/14/05"><U>Column 2/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Day of Infamy 3/7/05"><U>A Day of Infamy 3/7/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dysons Bill"><U>Dyson's Bill</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Excuses, Excuses 3/14/05"><U>Excuses, Excuses 3/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lots Win, Children Lose 3/28/05"><U>Lots Win, Children Lose  3/28/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Three Strikes! 4/3/05"><U>Three Strikes!  4/3/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Effects of Larger School Size 4/10/05"><U>Effects of Larger School  Size  4/10/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="It Was Inevitable 4/17/05"><U>It Was Inevitable  4/17/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Its All My Fault 4/24/05"><U>It's All My Fault 4/24/05</U></A>   |   <B>Site Struggles  5/1/05</B>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Learning for All 5/8/05"><U>Learning for All 5/8/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mechanicsville Elementary Schools Feedba"><U>Mechanicsville Elementary School's Feedback Report  5/15/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventures With Miss T 5/22/05"><U>Adventures With "Miss T" 5/22/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Less Is Better, Mr. Mattingly 5/29/05"><U>Less Is Better, Mr. Mattingly  5/29/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Litany for the Community 6/5/05"><U>A Litany for the Community  6/5/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bits and Pieces 6/12, 6/19, and 6/26/05"><U>Bits and Pieces 6/12, 6/19, and 6/26/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Computers and Technology 7/3/05"><U>Computers and Technology  7/3/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="School Sites 7/10/05"><U>School Sites 7/10/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Month School Year? 7/17/05"><U>11 Month School Year?   7/17/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Things Could Be Worse 7/24/05"><U>Things Could Be Worse  7/24/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Charter School Decision Overturned 7/31"><U>Charter School Decision Overturned  7/31/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Budget Surplus and Rumors 8/7/05"><U>Budget Surplus and Rumors  8/7/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Column 8/14/05"><U>Column 8/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Oily Situation 8/14/05"><U>An Oily Situation 8/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Good Things 8/25/05"><U>Good Things 8/25/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Whoopie!! 9/25/05"><U>Whoopie!! 9/25/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="School System to Improve 10/2/05"><U>School System to Improve 10/2/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Challenges, Failures? 10/9/05"><U>Challenges, Failures? 10/9/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id89.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carver Fire 10/15/05"><U>Carver Fire 10/15/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id91.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="St. Marys County 10/23/05"><U>St. Mary's County 10/23/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id92.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Teachers Health Insurance 11/4/05"><U>Teachers & Health Insurance 11/4/05</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="041c8212ezvthe.png"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Columns"><U>Columns</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=350 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Site Struggles  5/1/05</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>      There’s a struggle going on between the Town of Leonardtown and the Board of Education.  Both sides want an elementary school site to help relieve crowding in the Leonardtown School District.  But at this point the agreement on the need to find a suitable site seems to be the only agreement they can come up with.  Guess who suffers while the grownups try to work things out?</div> <div>      It’s all my fault.  It must be.  No one else is responsible for the standoff.  </div> <div>      The Board of Education is not going to, as Board Vice President Dr. Sal Raspa so colorfully put it, give the kids a life preserver and build a school in a swamp. The site which the developer has offered and the Leonardtown Planning Board prefers is in a valley which has wetlands on two sides and a water table 3 feet below the surface.  By placing soil on the site and waiting for it to stop compacting - a process which Brad Clements, Chief Administrative Officer of the School System, says can take up to a year.  Then you grade the site and build.  Despite what you may think, soil compaction is a standard practice for builders.  Clements has concerns about one athletic field that is on the other side of one of the wetlands, and how to handle storm water management for the site. But a two story school has a smaller footprint than the one shown on the plan about which Clements expressed his concern.  The site has not been reworked for a two story school.  </div> <div>      Board of Education President Cathy Allen remarked that every dollar you put underground is a dollar you can’t use to build the building above ground.</div> <div>      Sal Raspa asked, “How is it OK to build a school in a swamp and issue life preservers to kids.  That’s no place for a school.  How many times do we have to look at something?” He thinks the area where the traffic circle is, the high ground which Town envisions as open space would be an ideal spot for the school.  </div> <div>      Board Member Mary Washington said the higher ground would be better for the school.  It wouldn’t be a good use of taxpayers’ money to use the lower location.  It would be better to put the school on higher ground.</div> <div>      But the Town of Leonardtown thinks it has offered the high ground.  First, it found a workable location for a free school site in the Town of Leonardtown.  Yes, some work will have to be done, but the developer will supply the site, the road, water and sewer lines to the site, and at one point may have made other offers now withdrawn because of the nature of the discussions with the Board of Education.</div> <div>      The high ground that the Board of Education wants would destroy the required Neo-Traditional grid system for roads specified in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinance.  Those of you not familiar with the development process may not realize that governments are supposed to make development comply with their Comprehensive Plans.  But they are supposed to do that.  </div> <div>      The open space that was to have dedicated to the town would be gone.  The open vista which is now a familiar part of the Leonardtown landscape would be preserved if the school went in the valley and gone if you put the school on the hill.  </div> <div>      The school on the hill would be visible from four sides and to comply with the Town’s zoning ordinance would have to have four finished fronts - one on each side.  No one knows how much that will add to the cost.</div> <div>      The developer wanted a guarantee that if he gave the Board of Education the site, the Board  would build within a reasonable period of time.  He doesn’t want to try to sell houses around 16+ acres of undeveloped land which someone else owns.  The Board said they couldn’t give him a guarantee of when they would build.</div> <div>      At one point a Board of Education member suggested that the Town allow larger lots on the site, indicating a total lack of understanding of the development process.  </div> <div>      If you’re wondering why the Board of Education is unable to acquire a school site, perhaps this saga will help you understand.  </div> <div>      Meanwhile, the children are packed in their schools, and their education suffers.</div> <div>      It’s all my fault.  It must be.  No one else is responsible.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>