On Tuesday 1/17/17, the Town Council will hold a public hearing (continued from December 6, 2016) to consider a Mitigated Negative Declaration, General Plan Amendment, Rezoning, Design Review, and Conditional Use Permit Amendment for improvements at Marin Country Day School.
Marin Country Day School (MCDS) proposes new construction, building renovations, demolitions, and completion of a creek restoration program on the existing campus. A net addition of 11,334 sq. ft. would be added to the campus to provide additional classrooms, a new performing arts center, and associated facilities. While a total of 19,683 square feet of addition area is proposed, a total of 8,349 sq. ft. would be demolished resulting in a net addition to the campus of 11,334 sq. ft. The improvements would provide updated and more modern accommodations for MCDS students and more classrooms to reduce class sizes for more personalized instruction. No enrollment increases are proposed as part of this project. In addition, portable classrooms and new bathrooms would be added and the soccer field and parking lot north of Paradise Drive would be reconfigured temporarily during the construction period. These portable classrooms would be removed at the end of construction, with the parking lot and soccer field returning to its original function.
The existing General Plan designations are Public and Semi-Public Facilities and Open Residential. The General Plan Amendment proposes to change 7.14 acres of the site from Open Residential to Public and Semi-Public Facilities. The Rezoning Application proposes to also change 7.14 acres of the site which is zoned Open Residential District (R-1-C) to Public and Semi-Public Facilities District (P/SP). As proposed, the General Plan Amendment and Rezoning will place all of the developed areas, buildings and play fields, of the site within the Semi-Public Facilities General Plan and zoning designations. No development will occur within the remaining 14.2 acres that are designated Open Residential.
An Initial Study (IS) and Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) were prepared by Amy Skewes-Cox, AICP, under contract with the Town. The proposed IS and MND did not find any potential environmental impacts that could not be mitigated to a less-than-significant level. The public review period for the MND was noticed and began on Tuesday, October 4, 2016 and ended on November 4, 2016.
This application went before the Planning Commission on November 10, 2016 and the Commission unanimously forwarded a recommendation of approval of the Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration, General Plan Amendment, Rezoning, Design Review and Conditional Use Permit Amendment to the Town Council.
On December 6, 2016 the Council reviewed the application and directed the applicant to revise their plans to address the parking issues raised. The Council continued the item to the January 17, 2017 meeting.
Location Where Documents Can Be Reviewed: The IS, MND and project application are currently available for review at the Town Planning Department offices located at 300 Tamalpais Drive from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, by contacting Phil Boyle at 415-927-5067 or pboyle@tcmmail.org. They are also available for review at http://www.townofcortemadera.org/638/Marin-Country-Day-School
To access the site please contact Scott Hardister, Assistant Head of School at 415.927.5916 or shardister@mcds.org
If you have any questions about the information contained in this notice, please contact Phil Boyle, Senior Planner at (415) 927-5067 of pboyle@tcmmail.org.
