Charter school moving forward

Hutchinson’s two charter schools plan to move into one building in the industrial park. The idea cleared another hurdle Tuesday with little opposition at the Planning Commission.

The commission unanimously recommended that the City Council approve a conditional-use permit, site plan and vacation of easements. Commissioner Christie Rock abstained and Commissioner Mike Flaata was absent.

The 38,000-square-foot school will be built by a limited liability partnership known as TRJR and leased to New Century and New Discoveries Montessori charter schools. The five-acre site is along Fifth Avenue Southeast, south of Hutchinson Telephone Co.’s storage facility. The path had been clearer earlier this summer when the city amended its ordinances allowing schools, by permit, in industrial zones.

New Century, for secondary grades, is currently using leased space in Hutchinson Technology Inc.’s training center off of Bluff Street. New Discoveries, a one-year elementary school, is using modular classrooms set up at the McLeod County Fairgrounds. Leases for both schools expire at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. The new building is expected to be ready for use at the start of the 2008-2009 school year in September 2008.

The commission’s recommendations came with a list of 13 conditions proposed by city staff. One requires the developers to obtain a private easement from ****** Goebel, owner of the building to the west, to allow drainage along the south property line to a stormwater retention pond near the Crow River. A similar easement will be needed to build a Hutchinson Economic Development Authority building on the lot east of the school.

Another condition says unusual pedestrian crossings, reduced speed limits or special turning lanes are not recommended due to neighboring industrial uses and the accompanying truck traffic. That means the speed limit on Fifth Avenue past the school does not have to be reduced from the current 30 mph to 20 mph.

When Commission Chairwoman Lynn Otteson asked if students would be allowed to walk to the school, New Discoveries Director Dave Conrad didn’t rule it out, depending upon whether a safe route can be designated.

Tim Ulrich, president of Citizens Bank and a partner in TRJR, said a city trail along Fifth Avenue ends just one lot to the west.

“By the nature of our business, we are not the best neighbor. Grain generates a certain amount of dust,” Hutchinson Cooperative General Manager Michael Conner said. The co-op’s elevator nearby could be a problem for students and teachers with allergies, he suggested.

“We all live in Hutchinson. We know what grain smells like, what cow manure smells like. We live in rural Minnesota,” real estate agent Jim Fahey, another TRJR partner, said.

The issue will be on the agenda for the City Council’s Aug. 28 meeting.

(Terry Davis is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)