After protest, private school in Sarasota County can keep its controversial buildings

A recent victory for a citizen action group battling the construction of the private K-12 school The Classical Academy proved to be short-lived, as a setback to the school’s construction was remedied almost as quickly as it was issued.

Almost three months after the Sarasota County Zoning Administrator Donna Thompson found The Classical Academy in violation of its site plan for the modular buildings on its campus, the Sarasota County Commission voted 4-1 at its April 23 meeting to reverse this designation. The commission found buildings to be “minor modifications” and therefore compliant with the intent of the school, though the zoning administration had deemed the buildings “significant modifications” that strayed from the original intent in a Feb. 28 ruling.

Commission approval allows The Classical Academy to permanently install 30 of the 54 modular classrooms it originally had on campus. The current layout includes the modulars — three buildings with 10 classrooms each — in the area of Building 1 on the site map and former Grace Community Church buildings across its 41 acres.

The issue came in the shadow of a looming legal challenge to The Classical Academy’s new campus at 8000 Bee Ridge Road. Sarasota East Enders for Responsible Development’s lawsuit contesting the special exception that allowed the school is still awaiting action in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court.

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Residents of nearby neighborhoods Bee Ridge Road — some of whom live 800 feet from the school site — maintain that they weren’t aware the school would use modular buildings until they appeared on campus. Despite neighborhood workshops and county meetings where The Classical Academy was asked to identify each of the structures it planned to have on campus, neighbors say modular buildings weren’t mentioned.

Roger Zacks, a member of SEERD, said The Classical Academy’s placement of the buildings has deliberately left residents in the dark.

“This is not just a difference of opinion but an effort to obfuscate and deceive the residents,” Zacks said. “It’s nothing more than a shell game.”

Zacks and others have continually opposed the construction of the school at large and the inclusion of modular buildings. The inclusion of the buildings, opponents argue, changes the size and orientation of the total volume of buildings on campus, subsequently violating the binding site plan the county approved in July of last year.

Jane Graham, the attorney representing SEERD, argued that the magistrate’s violation ruling rendered the school’s appeal invalid.

“This modification request was born out of a code violation,” Graham said. “There were no modulars, portables, trailers, whatever you want to call them, approved in the binding concept plan.”

Legal bodies have agreed. A Sarasota County Special Magistrate found the school in violation of county code for its modular buildings in a Jan. 26 hearing and ordered it to remove them or obtain the permits by March 11, lest they face a $250 fine for each day they remain past the deadline. Sarasota County’s Code Enforcement department also issued two prior violations against modulars last Sept. 11 and Oct. 16, each ordering similar directives for removal or permits.

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The buildings are still on campus, and it’s unclear whether The Classical Academy was assessed with any fines for these violations.

Steve Rees, an attorney from Icard Merrill representing The Classical Academy, said the school was transparent about the buildings from the beginning, citing language in the application material. Rees argued that modular buildings were inherent to the special exception the school received and necessary to accommodate the influx of students that would attend while construction was in progress.

“Modulars were always going to be part of this school as it developed,” Rees said. “Demand is there, and modulars will supply that demand.”

The school’s special exception application mentions the intent for modular buildings, but it does not specify how many the site would include or where the school would place them. A map presented to the commission outlining the general location of the buildings was not included in the original application material.

The Classical Academy aims to enroll 1,300 students across six classroom buildings by the time it’s complete, according to its site plan. Students will arrive at the new campus in phases, with the first phase bringing 300 students. Future phases will include the construction of a roundabout and gated access.

It’s unclear how many students are currently enrolled, though school activities have been in progress. The Classical Academy headmaster Josh Longenecker has not responded to requests for comment, and Sarasota County does not comment on pending legislation.

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Commission Chair Mike Moran, the lone dissenting vote, voiced concern that an approval of the site plan modification could allow the modular buildings to remain on The Classical Academy’s campus indefinitely. With a price tag in the tens of millions and no legal obligation for development applicants to make good on their intentions to build, Moran worried the modulars would become a permanent fixture.

“Nowhere in this building is there a three-ring binder or a piece of paper that says they ever have to build a brick and mortar,” Moran said. “You could do bake sales for the next 30 years and still never raise the money.”

However, The Classical Academy Board Chair Laura Chevalier said the modulars were always intended for temporary use. The school has tangible plans in place for permanent buildings, she said, and is actively exploring options to secure the funding.

“We have a strategic plan. We have a construction committee,” Chevalier said. “We are on the pathway to build a school.”

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Though no commissioner considered the modular buildings ideal, the commission ultimately deemed them necessary to accommodate students while the construction of permanent facilities is in progress. Commissioner Joe Neunder, citing his own middle and high school experience in modulars, was confident they wouldn’t hinder the learning environment and viewed them as a step in the right direction.

“The larger picture in my mind very clearly is the kids,” Neunder said. “It’s being able to put the butts in the seats and get ready for an academic school year that’s coming in August.”

Commissioner Ron Cutsinger acknowledged nearby residents’ frustration with the modulars, but he reasoned that they were far enough from neighborhoods that they didn’t significantly alter the site’s development plan. The modulars, he said, were in line with the commission’s original intent to approve a school and qualified as minor adjustments.

“There’s some heartburn here, but I’m going to support this for a lot of reasons,” Cutsinger said. “This is a great school. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and exciting things ahead for it.”

The Classical Academy aims to open fully in August, though SEERD hopes a judge will repeal the special exception before then. The organization’s legal challenge against the county remains stagnant in court.

Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: After protest, private school in Sarasota County can keep its controversial buildings