HIGH POINT — A city advisory board on Tuesday endorsed a rezoning request that would allow development of a new K-8 school that would be annexed into High Point.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend approval of Guilford County Schools’ application to rezone 30.3 acres at the southwest corner of S. Bunker Hill and Boylston roads, where GCS is proposing to build the Katherine G. Johnson School for Science and Mathematics.
The vote came despite opposition from a crowd of Colfax neighbors who live near the zoning site and attended Tuesday’s hearing.
Many wore yellow safety vests and carried makeshift stop signs to express their views that a 900-seat school with athletic facilities would bring traffic safety and congestion problems to the rural area.
“This area is growing. Companies are coming here. People are coming here, and you’re going to need schools,” said commission Chairman Tom Kirkman, who voted in favor, along with commissioners Angela Jimenez, Thad Juszczak, Alex Moore, Mark Morgan and Ray Wheatley.
Commissioner Mark Walsh voted against, and commissioners Joan Swift and Terry Venable were absent.
The recommendation from the commission goes to the City Council, which takes final action on zoning cases, and is scheduled to hear the GCS request June 20.
The school would be designed to address overcrowding at Southwest Guilford elementary and middle schools and Colfax Elementary School.
GCS has the site, which is in High Point’s northwest annexation area, under contract to purchase.
The commission agreed with city staff’s assessment that institutional zoning would be appropriate for the property, with GCS’ pledged traffic improvements and other development conditions taken into account.
Amanda Hodierne, a Greensboro attorney representing GCS in the zoning case, said there have been lots of examples of schools being built in rural parts of the county.
While a new school would increase the number of vehicle trips through the area, she said the addition of turn lanes, intersection improvements and other transportation conditions being offered would accommodate traffic on area roads and within the school site.
GCS has also agreed to higher landscaping buffer standards between the site and adjoining residential properties.
“There’s been a high degree of investment proposed in improvements to this site,” said GCS Superintendent Whitney Oakley. “We want to be good neighbors. If this site is selected and we progress through the process, we will communicate with the public.”
Neighbors said this had been lacking and that school officials had not addressed their concerns.
“A school is not compatible with land that is low-density residential, and it’s unreasonable to locate a school where the roads cannot support the traffic,” said neighbor Amy Purcell.
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