HomeMy WebLinkAboutTREEHOUSE MONTESSORI SCHOOL - PDP - 17-07 - REPORTS - MODIFICATION REQUESTTreeHouse Montessori
1742 Centennial Road
Fort Collins. CO 80525
(970)231-5771
June 15, 2007
Dear Planning and Zoning Board
This is a request for modification of standard 4.4(B)(3)(C)(1).
Our proposed plan is to open a Montessori preschool at 2013 Valley Forge Avenue, Lot 77,
Lexington Green 3`d, Fort Collins, Colorado. The current zoning allows for a child care facility:
but not within 1500 feet of an existing facility. There is currently an abandoned Children's World
facility located at 2140 Valley Forge Ave., which is 317 feet from our proposed location.
The Children's World facility has been closed and has sat empty for over 18 months. The
Montessori preschool would not hinder any childcare business opening in this facility because
Montessori would serve an entirely different population than a childcare center. Montessori
caters only to 3 to 6 year old (preschool) children, our curriculum is Montessori specific,
requiring Montessori certified directors and experienced teachers, in addition to our small
classroom size of 15 children. Finally, Montessori is an educational facility, not a childcare
facility. The childcare center, or empty Children's World facility, targets a different population of
infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the before and after school children and teenagers from
neighborhood schools. Furthermore, the facility is separated from the proposed Montessori
school by a major crossroad (Taft Hill) thus targeting children in a separate neighborhood.
An additional point, TreeHouse Montessori is an asset to the community, it aims to revitalize the
house and its landscaping, but more importantly, experience shows that many Montessori students
have grown to become leaders in our community. TressHouse Montessori certainly will not be
detrimental to the community. As we have been currently operating in this neighborhood for the
past 5 years, there will be very little impact on traffic flow. In our experience, drop-off and pick-
up occurs at various times and we haven't experienced any rushes exceeding 2-4 families at one
time. Operating times occur only during daytime hours, closing on weekends and holidays that
follow the CSU and Poudre School schedules.
Our research shows a relative paucity of preschools on the west side of Fort Collins and we feel
that our program will be an asset to the community by providing a specialized educational
program for preschoolers in this area of need. In addition, this property is our preferred location
because it is in a neighborhood that currently benefits from the Montessori preschool, the house is
a one -level home with a layout easily compliant with state regulations for a preschool with a large
back yard for play space and gardening, adequate storage in the basement, appropriate employee
garage parking, and overflow or off-street parking available through the church parking lot in
back. Further, this house has minimal neighbors to disturb, both east and west side neighbors
work during the day, but are supportive of this school, and there are no individual neighbors at the
back — the bible church operates mainly on Wednesday evenings and on Sundays. TreeHouse
believes that because of these factors, in addition to neighborhood support, it is equal to or better
than a compliant house.
Sincerely,
Andrea Kaleta, MD
Board Member, TreeHouse Montessori