Tuesday May 6

Panel chides school district

Neighbors raise complaints about playing field renovations

By Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer

A squabble is brewing between the city of Menlo Park and the Menlo Park City School District, which planning commissioners said Monday isn't acting as a good neighbor to residents.

The commission was in the process of renewing a three-year use permit for the German American International School, which rents a campus at 275 Elliott Drive from the school district for $300,000 per year. It passed 5-0, but a handful of neighbors complained about recent playing field renovations.



Invasion of privacy?

Resident Jack Liu said the landscaping work raised the field by six inches, which has caused runoff to flow into his yard during the rainy season. Liu, along with resident Bobbie Fakkema, also complained about noise and the proximity of bleachers and a baseball diamond. Not only does the school operate five days a week, they said, but the district allows Little League to play on the field during weekends. They said their privacy is being violated and that families park on an emergency access road for the games.

"They can see straight into our bedrooms," Liu said.

The situation proved a tough one for commissioners to address because the applicant has no control over any of the complaints. They are all under the purview of the district, which owns the land.

"We're in the middle of this," said Hans Peter Metzger, head of the German American school.

The school's former vice principal, Daniel Zimmermann, who negotiated the lease in 2001, said the district included a section in it allowing weekend Little League games.



Legal options sought

After their vote, the commission directed city staff to send a list of the residents' complaints to the district's board of trustees, and to also explore with City Attorney Bill McClure what legal options, or possible enforcement, the city might have with regard to the drainage complaint.

"If the city determines that one of its residents is getting runoff on their property, what is the city's recourse?" asked commission Vice Chairman Henry Riggs.

The commission also instructed the trustees through city staff that future approvals of any use permits will hinge on the district acting as good neighbor to residents and listening to their concerns. Typically, the city has no oversight of district plans, save for traffic, noise and drainage. And even then, it can prove difficult for the city to get a say because the district, in most cases, is exempt from the environmental review process mandated by state law.

The city is in a similar situation over the school district's plans to renovate Oak Knoll School.

"This is really the only way we have a hook on the school district," commission Chairman Louis Deziel said.

The neighbors told the commission that the German American school has been responsive to their concerns and met with them on several occasions. The use permit specifically allows the school to continue using four portable buildings and allows it to add another two this year. The school is expecting to increase its enrollment from 200 to about 240 in coming years and has a maximum ceiling of 300 students.



E-mail Banks Albach at balbach@dailynewsgroup.com.