Neighbors ready to protest expansion of Lombard school

Neighbors are mobilizing to protest a Lombard religious school's $7.5 million expansion project when it comes before the village board Thursday

The plan commission earlier this month recommended trustees allow the College Preparatory School of America, an Islamic school, to build a 61,000-square-foot building on its campus at 331 Madison St.

The school must agree to several conditions, including capping enrollment at 785 students; adding landscape buffers; and staggering start and dismissal times with Madison Elementary School, the public school just down the street. The village also is asking for a detailed drop-off/pickup plan.

But opponents who are circulating petitions to present to the board say the project will bring too many cars to a neighborhood where traffic is already a concern.

"It's something that belongs on North Avenue," said John Hartley, a neighbor who opposes the project.

The school, founded in 1991 and recognized for its strong academic program, enrolls roughly 435 students in preschool through 12th grade. The new facility primarily will serve junior high and high school students and include a gym, cafeteria, multipurpose room for prayers, library, science labs and classrooms.

Plans also call to renovate the outdated, 1930s-era elementary school now in use and to build an underground tunnel between the two buildings.

The village board vote, scheduled for after 7:30 p.m. at village hall, 255 E. Wilson, follows a series of public hearings to address neighbors' concerns.

"It's CPSA's goal to have as little intrusion on the neighborhood as possible," said Andrew Draus, the Lombard attorney representing the school.

Earlier this month, the school agreed to add semi-translucent windows in the new building's atrium in response to residents' concerns about students being able to look out onto their property. It also agreed to relocate its Dumpster and to prohibit deliveries or trash collection before 8 a.m.

The plan commission's recommendation includes allowing two variances: A section of the new building that houses a staircase would be allowed to stand 35 feet instead of 30 feet, and the village would require 50 percent open space instead of the 62.5 percent minimum requirement for such projects.

The school proposed additional parking spaces beyond the 80 required by the village and will have to eliminate some of those to meet the open space requirement.

The new facility will be south of the existing school and cars will enter and exit the campus the same place they do now. The proposal calls for two new drive aisles on the property to get cars of parents waiting to drop off or pick up their children off the street during peak periods.

"The main thing we wanted to make sure is that stacking and queuing be minimized or not occur on Madison Street," said William J. Heniff, Lombard's director of community development.

But some neighbors are skeptical about claims that increasing enrollment by 300 students won't cause traffic problems. "I personally have been stopped (on Madison Street) in front of the school behind 20 cars attempting to get into the parking lot of CPSA," said Daniel Smothers, who has been passing out fliers urging neighbors to turn out for the village board meeting.

Some neighbors also are concerned about aesthetics. The new parking lot will be in front of the school. And while the proposal calls for extensive landscaping, the school hasn't done much over the years to improve the curb appeal of the existing building, neighbors complain.

"It's not a bad looking building, but when you don't do any kind of landscaping in front of it, it looks pretty rundown," Smothers said.

Neighborhood opponents realize they are fighting an uphill battle at this point to halt the expansion. "We're playing it by ear without much of an organization behind us," Smothers said.

"Personally, I'd like to see (CPSA) stay in town," he said. "I hope the (school) can find a location that's not in the center of a neighborhood that already sees a significant amount of traffic."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.cpsaonline.com/school-expansion-project">Expansion project details on school Web site</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>