Summit zoning board approves Oak Knoll expansions but delays proposed parking

The City of Summit Zoning Board of Adjustment on Feb. 20 approved revised additions at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child Inc., but split off the previously proposed parking behind 76 Prospect Street for separate consideration and neighborhood notice.

The board voted to grant the variances needed for the school’s altered plan, which removes the parking area from the application, reduces lot coverage to 44.4 percent and lowers disturbance of steep slopes by about 600 square feet. The board also approved a set of conditions aimed at limiting off‑site impacts, including additional geotechnical testing and restrictions on lighting and landscaping.

Oak Knoll’s attorney, Hillary Ells of Dempsey, Dempsey & Sheehan, told the board the revised package restores the area where parking had been proposed to existing conditions, reduces lot coverage from the earlier proposal and eliminates variances tied specifically to the removed parking area. She introduced updated site and landscape exhibits and said the school’s enrollment, trip generation and off‑street parking will not change as the school does not intend to increase enrollment.

Board engineers and the applicant’s civil and geotechnical witnesses discussed stormwater and bedrock concerns during the hearing. Danielle Lescrenier, a licensed civil engineer with Dynamic Engineering, said the site’s previously planned pavement basin that would have served the now‑deleted parking area is no longer needed; other proposed above‑ground bioretention basins remain. The geotechnical report submitted with the application included nine borings with bedrock depths ranging roughly from 11 to 25 feet depending on location, the witnesses said.

After public comment and board discussion, members voted to bifurcate the application so that the parking portion would be carried to a future meeting with separate notice to neighbors; that bifurcation carried 6–1. The board then debated and voted to approve the remaining revised application, with recorded votes in favor from the seven eligible voting members.

The board imposed several conditions of approval. Among them: compliance with the board engineer’s memorandum and the fire chief’s report; a lighting protocol that would turn off interior building lighting by 10:30 p.m. (except emergency safety lighting), set exterior lights on timers from sunset to sunrise, and require dimmable LEDs to run at the lowest lumen level compatible with safety; consultation with the city forester on the revised landscaping plan and two years of landscaping jurisdiction after installation; retention of drainage jurisdiction for two years after construction; and a requirement that the applicant submit a revised geotechnical report showing additional borings in the areas of new foundations. The board also required that if bedrock drilling is found to be necessary during construction the applicant must return to the board to disclose the scope and proposed mitigation.

Board members mentioned concerns about potential drilling impacts to neighbors and said the additional borings and the requirement to return to the board if significant bedrock work is found were decisive to moving forward. The board recorded its earliest possible return date for any carried parking hearing as June 2, with notice to be mailed at least 10 days before that hearing.

The board’s action leaves the school able to proceed with the approved building work subject to the listed conditions, while the parking proposal remains deferred pending neighborhood notice and further review.