[RP TownTalk] Little Workers of the Sacred Heart Nursery Changes

[Alan K. Thompson]

*Last week, on August 27th, at the Town Council's work session, the council
chambers were filled by more than 30 people who came to speak on the issue
of expanding the Little Workers of the Sacred Heart Nursery.  A petition
supporting the expansion, with more than 200 signatures, was delivered to
the Council.  In addition, eight people spoke at the microphone, discussing
the decades-long history of the nuns and the nursery school in our town,
the high quality of education at the school, the compassion of the nuns for
both children and parents, the fact that the low-cost and high quality care
provided by the nuns was essential to them keeping their jobs and paying
rent, and, above all, about the fact that the demand for spaces in the
school far exceeded the spaces available.  My younger son turned 10 this
year, so it's been a few years since I needed a nursery school, but I
remember well that even the expensive schools had long waiting lists.

To provide some history on the project to date, we on the council first
heard about the plans last winter, when a request for two curb cuts to
allow the circular driveway was brought before the council.  Our Chief of
Police and members of his department reviewed the current traffic situation
at the school, evaluated the sketched-out design, and told us that it would
significantly improve both public safety and traffic flow at the site.
 Knowing that we would have further input on the design, we approved the
curb cuts so the Nursery could finalize the design (they wanted to know
that they wouldn't be wasting resources on a design that had no chance of
approval).

In early June, legally-required letters were sent to all adjacent residents
notifying them of "pre-filing" for the modification of the current zoning
exception to increase the number of allowed students from 25 to 30 (State
licensing requirements currently limit them to 20 students because of space
limitations - the plans included increasing the size of the building and
improving the current architectural presentation of the building).  At the
Council's work session on June 18, representatives of the Nursery asked the
Town Council to provide a letter of support for the project.  Having
received no response to the letters from neighbors, and believing that the
Nursery had an excellent relationship with their neighbors (and having
heard from a representative of the Nursery that he had discussed it with
all neighbors and had not heard any opposition), I prepared a letter and
brought it to the Town Council's July 2 Legislative meeting.  Ten minutes
before the meeting was to start, a neighbor to the Nursery approached me
and expressed her strong opposition to the project.

I knew then that even though this was simply a letter of support, that it
was important for me to directly determine the neighbors’ support for the
project.  I told the opposed neighbor that I would remove it from the
agenda for the July meeting and that I needed to discuss her objections
with her.  When I made the motion to amend the agenda as presented, I told
my fellow members of the Town Council that I had heard of opposition to the
project, and needed to talk to the neighbors before bringing it up to a
vote.  The opposed neighbor was in the audience at that time, though she
did not stay at the meeting long enough to publicly speak about her
opposition, as she had told me she would just before the meeting.

Since that meeting I have met with or left a letter (requesting feedback)
for all of the neighbors I think will be affected by the changes, and found
that a large majority are in support of the project.  I met most recently,
just last Friday, with the neighbor who approached me at the July 2 meeting
and her husband. (In addition to the letter I hand-delivered to her house,
I had been actively trying to arrange a meeting with her for over two
weeks, and had told her at least a few days in advance of the August 27
work session that we would be discussing it on that evening; neither she
nor her husband were able to attend. We are busy people, and were not able
to arrange a mutually agreeable meeting time until August 31st. She did
provide me, around August 24, a letter she had written to the County
Planning Board describing her objections to the project in great detail.
Her husband registered his feelings on the TownTalk listserve after our
conversation on August 31st.)

So now we are nearing this month's Legislative Meeting, and a decision on
whether to send a letter of support is again on the agenda for tomorrow
night's meeting.

The Town Council is a representative body, and I feel that especially in
cases like this we should provide an opinion that reflects the opinions of
our residents.  As I stated earlier, the immediate neighbors support it by
a large majority, though a few do oppose it.  All feedback from the rest of
the community - including those who have contacted me in response to recent
postings on this list - have been in favor of it.  I plan to introduce a
letter of support at tomorrow night's meeting, but include in that letter
the concerns of the opposed neighbors in hopes that they can be at least
partially addressed as the plans move through the formal County/MNCPPC
process.  Because the plans are subject to change during that process, I
have reserved the right of the Council to alter that support if the plans
do change, or our concerns are not addressed.

I am more than happy to receive feedback.  Please call me, send e-mail, or
attend Tuesday evening's meeting (8 pm, Riverdale Park Town Hall, 5008
Queensbury) if you have thoughts.

Alan Thompson
Ward 2 Town Council Representative, Town of Riverdale Park


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