33 Burton Woods Lane is a property adjacent to The New School Montessori. The school acquired this property and has already demolished the house. The New School wanted to build an educational garden on the site of the demolished house. The City determined that while a garden was a permitted use, educational use of the property was only conditionally permitted. This meant that a hearing was required and specific terms or conditions (hence the term conditional) of use had to be set through the zoning hearing process.
NANA participated in this process, first requesting and receiving a continuance of the first hearing due to failure by the City to provide proper notification of the hearing. NANA sent out a letter on November 18, 2023 to inform our community about the hearing. NANA did not endorse or oppose the educational garden as neighbors seemed split between support and opposition. NANA did feel that the application and the City Zoning Staff Report lacked clarity of what future use meant if conditional approval for “school” use was granted. This seemed to be a major concern of the neighbors.
We are anticipating city approval and hoping that the City will provide clear and concise language that will provide The New School Montessori the usage they want, but also provide assurance to neighbors that the use will be alterable in the future.