Commission amends ordinance to allow Saint Teresa Catholic School gym and raise enrollment cap to 945

The City Commission approved an amendment to Ordinance No. 2997 on Feb. 11 to permit a new multipurpose building at Saint Teresa Catholic School and to increase the school's maximum enrollment from 881 to 945 students.

The change authorizes a one-story multipurpose building to house indoor athletics, performing arts, music and special-purpose classrooms while keeping other conditions of the 1992 approval in effect. The city's planning director and the school's representatives said the building is required for the school's accreditation and will allow activities now held off campus to be relocated on site.

School counsel Suzanne Dougherty told the commission the school's average enrollment has been roughly 953 over the past 33 years and that the existing ordinance cap had gone unnoticed until the current request was filed. She said the requested 945 cap is intended to align the ordinance with long-standing enrollment patterns and that the school will file yearly enrollment figures with its certificate of use.

Staff and the Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval with conditions. The approval requires widened sidewalks north of Valencia Avenue, enhanced perimeter landscape, a noise mitigation measure along the eastern boundary, prohibition of field lights and limits on outside uses. Jennifer Garcia, the planning and zoning director, said the proposal had been reviewed by the Board of Architects, Historic Preservation Board and the Planning & Zoning Board; the Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval in January.

Presenters said the new building will reduce outdoor activity noise by moving louder sports such as basketball and volleyball indoors, and that there will be no new evening sports tournaments or third-party rentals of the facility. The school and the church committed to retain an on-site city police officer during school hours for traffic and drop-off management, and to work with staff on construction staging, tree protection and landscape mitigation.

Public comments included neighborhood requests to preserve two large banyan trees along the perimeter and to seek flexible design solutions for the planned noise-mitigation wall to minimize root damage to mature trees. Commissioners asked staff to work with the school on tree protections and wall design; the school asked for flexibility to avoid harming major roots while meeting noise-mitigation goals.

The commission recorded a roll-call vote approving the ordinance amendment and site changes. Staff will finalize conditions prior to issuance of building permits and return any required items to the commission if changes to the approval are needed.