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Two new private schools are coming to Scottsdale after City Council approves conditional use permits for both facilities.
City Council’s approval on consent of CUPs for Ville de Marie private school and Building Blocks Preschool came at its Sept. 8 meeting. Both schools will be at buildings the city has designated as places of worship.
Ville de Marie, which International Church of Foursquare Gospel owns, will set up shop in a 33,867-square-foot building at 8512 E. Thomas Road. Building Blocks Preschool, Congregational Church of the Valley owns, will use a 1,600-square-foot building at 12001 E. Shea Blvd.
Both sites sit within residential zoning although the Ville de Marie sits in a R1-7 zoning while the Building Blocks Preschool resides in a R1-43 zoning. Both zonings require a CUP for an educational institution to function.
Ville de Marie plans to enroll up to 250 students. These students will range from kindergarten to 12th grade, according to a city staff report to council.
In order to accommodate these students, the school plans to handle student drop-off and pick-up with a one-way traffic pattern, entering off of Thomas Road and exiting onto 86th Street.
The drop-off area must accommodate at least five vehicles and will be near the main building entrance. Furthermore, parking and drop-off must occur in the area rather than off-site, per the CUP.
Originally, one of the stipulations for the CUP included for a deceleration lane on Thomas Road leading up to the school. The Planning Commission, at its Aug. 12 meeting, recommended approval of the applicant without the deceleration lane and the stipulation had been removed from the CUP.
Other stipulations include no speaker systems or bell outdoors, no outdoor activities after 8 p.m. without a special event permit, and outdoor playgrounds and recreation areas shall have a 50-foot setback from the property line.
Building Blocks Preschool will feature a smaller enrollment of 35. The school will carry similar stipulations to the Ville de Marie school.
The applicant submitted a circulation plan with this proposal and city staff say the queue is sufficiently long enough to accommodate drop-off. City staff say they anticipate drop-off and pick-up to occur anytime during the hours of operation from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Staff say this type of arrival will likely disburse traffic jams in the area.
Vehicles will enter via the southern driveway on 120th Street while exiting via the northern driveway on 120th Street. Circulation will go in a counterclockwise flow.
This property will feature landscape buffers on the side and rear property lines that are adjacent to a residential district.
Both schools will operate out of existing buildings with no plans for changes to the existing building.
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