PZC Vote on CREC Magnet School Delayed Further

The Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) will have to wait two more weeks to find out if the new magnet school they hope to build in town will receive a nod.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted on Tuesday night to continue the public hearing on CREC’s applications for the school, proposed for the corner of Waterville Road (Route 10) and Avonwood Road, until its next meeting.

“The town engineer asked a number of questions that CREC answered, but the commissioners just received them tonight and did not have a chance to review them, commission chairman Duane Starr said in explaining the continuance.

The hearing, which lasted more than three hours, was held at the Avon Senior Center rather than at Town Hall because a large crowd was expected to attend. Indeed the room was full, and following presentations by CREC representatives and questions from commissioners, 16 audience members spoke, some against the proposal and others in support, including parents whose children go to a magnet school.

The school would be an expansion of CREC’s Reggio Magnet School for the Arts, which currently leases space on Fisher Drive. It is designed to be 63,000 square feet and house 435 students. CREC is expecting a grant from the state to fund the building project at no cost to the town.

Avon resident Sue Henneberry asked whether the commission’s two-week delay in making a decision would affect receipt of state bonding for the project.

“Each day has an affect,” CREC Executive Director Bruce Douglas said.

“We’re here to advance our plan,” he told the commission. “The road has been a long one that began two years ago.”

At that time, CREC wanted to build the school at the corner of Climax Road and Bickford Street in Avon Park North. That idea was not favored by the commission, and early this year, CREC looked at the alternate site on Waterville Road.

“The commission enthusiastically said to pursue the site,” Douglas said.

Dr. Roy Beebe, who currently owns the 10-acre parcel of land where the school would be built, said he bought the property in 1996 and never expected what would transpire. Before the school was proposed, ideas for development there have included medical offices and retail.

“Unless Avon wants to keep the land as open space, whatever goes there will bring increased traffic,” he said.

He believes that the school will increase property values in the area, not cause a decrease.

That is one of the issues raised by Avon resident Joseph Delbone, who lives next door to the parcel, and his brother, John, of Canton, in an appeal they filed June 28 at Hartford Superior Court against the commission’s decision to rezone the land from office park to residential. The Delbones have since withdrawn the lawsuit, Town Planner Steve Kushner told Patch Wednesday.

Delbone raised new questions at the hearing and said, “I don’t want to file another lawsuit.”

CREC is running out of space in the building on Fisher Drive, Luke McCoy of Friar Associates said, and would like to hold three classes in the yellow barn on the Waterville Road property for one year until the new school is completed.

They would break ground in the spring and Avon Cider Mill's garden shop would continue doing business through next summer. However, their lease would then be terminated and the building torn down, along with the adjacent barn.

Buses would enter the school site from Avonwood, and there’s a second entrance for parents, McCoy said.

CREC Deputy Executive Director and Superintendent of Schools Denise Gallucci described drop-off and pickup procedures that would be followed, and said the 103 parking spaces will be sufficient for after-school activities since they do not involve the entire student body.

A traffic impact study has been completed by Purcell Associates of Glastonbury

“With the addition of a signal light at the intersection, we believe the roadway network will safely accommodate the traffic,” Purcell consulting engineer Stephen R. Ulman said.

He believes that the increase in traffic the school creates will be less than a commercial development would bring.

The projected increase in traffic on Route 10 going south of the school would be 47 vehicles from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., and 33 after school, which is prior to work rush hour, Ulman said. Going north on Route 10, the increase would be 111 vehicles in the morning and 77 after school.

A resident of Oak Bluff, a street off of Waterville, asked whether the speed limit would be lowered, as is often done near a school zone.

With average speed on Rte. 10 measured at 51 mph (the speed limit is 45), he wondered if a lower speed limit would cause a back-up. He and others noted that there’s already a problem at the intersection of Waterville and Old Farms roads.

“That would be controlled by the state, but we’re proposing warning signs,” Ulman said.

A resident of Ayreshire Lane, also off of Waterville, said that drivers use the street as a shortcut to avoid Avon Mountain, and is concerned that problem will increase if the school is built.

Other residents who live on streets off of Waterville spoke in favor of the school, despite the expected increase in traffic.

“Anywhere you put a school you’re going to have traffic and safety issues,” Linda Merlin said.

“Rooms like this have the opportunity to close the achievement gap,” Henneberry said in encouraging the commission to approve.

“If you choose not to approve, another nearby town will welcome it with open arms,” Avon resident Laura Young said.

“I want to thank CREC for not giving up on Avon,” Diana Goode, executive director of Gifts of Love, said.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article stated that the lawsuit the Delbone brothers filed against the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Capitol Region Education Council contesting a zone change is still pending. Town Planner Steve Kushner confirmed Wednesday that the lawsuit has been withdrawn. This reporting and editing error has been corrected.