Petition to Oppose the Conceived LePort Montessori School at the Montclair Women's Club

LePort Schools, a for-profit company from Southern California, has entered into an agreement with the owners of the Montclair Women’s Club to buy the Club (corner of Mountain and Thornhill) to put in a two-story Montessori Program School with 120 to 140 students, 16-18 staff members, and 8 parking spots!  The school will have a six foot high concrete block wall around it and 11 trees have been tagged for removal, although they told us only 6. One is a magnificent first growth cedar in front.  Neighbors were invited to a meeting via a letter that states it is from “your future neighbor,  LePort Montessori School.”  It stated that LePort “will be bringing” a Montessori school to the neighborhood in 2016.  The letter failed to mention the size and nature of the planned school.  It also failed to mention that a conditional use permit and other governmental permits will be required.  Fortunately, a number of neighbors went to the meeting in spite of the impression created by the letter from LePort that the plan was already a fully approved project.  

The current traffic situation is already a serious problem during commute hours and school pick-up and delivery times.  Cars back up to the intersection and to the Village.  Parking is impossible, with people routinely parking across driveways.  LePort School representatives said they will do everything possible to ameliorate traffic and parking issues.  However, they expect drop-off and pick-up to be handled in a two or three car designated area in front of the proposed school!  People coming from directions other than the Village will have to somehow get turned around before drop-off or pick-up.  The fact is inescapable that it’s not a suitable location.  Many, many people in the Montclair District will suffer additional delays and congestion and safety issues will be severe.  Thornhill Drive is a major artery for many Montclair residents.  They depend on Thornhill as their only practical means of egress in the event of a medical emergency or major disaster such as a fire or earthquake.

The plain and inescapable fact is that the project will be very damaging and harmful to the neighborhood, library patrons, and other users of this busy corridor. The response of the LePort people seems to be that they can do whatever they want as long as it is not illegal.  This is NOT the future neighbor many of us want!  Even more, they propose to convert a strip of city property along Thornhill Drive, currently providing a number of public parking spots, for their own private playground use..  LePort argues that statistics show that more day care and early childhood educational facilities are needed in Montclair. We are not opposed to additional facilities, if needed, but not one of this size in such a sensitive location.  We already have two large elementary schools, a busy public library and at least five small day-care facilities all within a few hundred feet of the proposed development.  

Granting a conditional use permit ought to require that the project enhance the neighborhood, but this would do very much the opposite.  The owner of the property hopes to profit by getting a permit to allow what was a modest clubhouse, seldom used during school hours and usually by small groups, to be transformed into a large two-story for profit pre-school for over one hundred students, but she purchased the property knowing what it was and has been, and she should not be allowed to do this at the expense of and to the detriment of the neighborhood and entire Montclair community. Please email the following City officials with your comments to stop this project:

Scott Miller; smiller@oaklandnet.com, Dave Valesk; dvaleska@oaklandnet.com, Chris Pattillo; pattillo@pgadesign.com and Jim Moore; jmoore.ocpc@gmail.com.