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Council nixes request from Challenger Schools for use permit
By Joann Liao
The Sunnyvale City Council voted last Tuesday to deny Challenger Schools a use permit that would allow Challenger to set up a new school at the Mary Manor Shopping Center site on W. Washington Avenue.
"I'm really unwilling to make this anything but a commercial center," said Councilman Jack Walker. "I want to see this site remain commercial."
Councilman Fred Fowler agreed. "I would love to have Challenger expand in Sunnyvale but not in this location, because this location needs to serve the neighborhood," Fowler said.
The Planning Commission had previously denied Challenger the use permit, citing inappropriate land use and traffic concerns as reasons for the denial. Challenger then appealed the Commission's decision within the 15-day appeal period.
Challenger Schools is a private organization that operates schools from preschool to eighth grade. Challenger has one site in Sunnyvale at
Hollenbeck Road and was hoping to expand its Sunnyvale presence to accomodate some of the parents on its long waiting list, according to Challenger Schools representative Clay Stringham.
The proposed school at Mary Manor would have had 280 preschool and kindergarten students, with the potential addition of first and second grades. The site once housed a grocery store, but has been empty for more than four years.
Neighbors of the disputed site formed the majority of Tuesday's well-attended council meeting. Opinion was sharply divided between those who supported Challenger's appeal and those who did not want Challenger in that site.
While Stringham presented a petition signed by neighbors in favor of having Challenger Schools occupy the Mary Manor site, a Mary Manor neighbor presented the council with a petition signed by 383 Sunnyvale residents who were against having Challenger in their neighborhood.
Those against the school's request wore tags with "SOS" printed on them, standing for "Save our Shopping." Others in favor of the school's request wore tags in the shape of red schoolhouses. "Challenger does not add to this community," Mary Manor neighbor John Whiteman told the council. "We need light retail. An old grocery store is not where you want to put a new school."
Some of the neighbors also protested the idea of having young children so close to the bar and liquor store in the Mary Manor Shopping Center. Most of the neighbors' concerns, however, centered around traffic.
"We have no reason to believe [traffic] will be a major issue," city traffic engineer Ray Williamson told the council. David Fitzsimmons, a CCS traffic engineer hired by Challenger Schools, agreed. However, traffic continued to be at the center of many of the residents' objections.
Those in favor of having the school in the Mary Manor Shopping Center felt that Challenger's presence might help revitalize the shopping center by drawing in new customers, such as the parents of Challenger students.
"If it were not for our kids, I would have given up a long time ago," Stringham said, calling the search for another Sunnyvale site a "long and arduous process."
Challenger has spent the last two years looking for a Sunnyvale location, according to Stringham. "Land is scarce. There is no real viable alternative to this site," he said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
