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6 Draft
<br /> 1 As you all know, it is considered best practice for counsel to be present, under the North
<br /> 2 Carolina State Bar rules, in quasi-judicial hearings. And so, as a matter of best practice, I am
<br /> 3 here. This is not a controversial hearing whatsoever. I do want to introduce to you the
<br /> 4 individuals who are here with me. We have— I promise you we're not going to call the entire
<br /> 5 team to testify, but we wanted to have everyone here in case you had questions of particular
<br /> 6 people, so we had them here. So from Emerson Waldorf School, I have Ian Ostrowski, who is
<br /> 7 our facilities director with Emerson Waldorf; Michelle Fridman, who is the director of
<br /> 8 administration; and Luis Lopez Naranjo — I am not going to, close but not exactly. He is the
<br /> 9 chair of our board of trustees at Emerson Waldorf. My team of experts, my design team and
<br /> 10 my experts are Laura Holloman with John R. McAdams Company, Spencer Christiansen with
<br /> 11 John R. McAdams Company, Nate Bouquin with John R. McAdams Company, and Nick
<br /> 12 Kirkland with Kirkland Appraisers. The packet of information you have, which I would ask that
<br /> 13 you receive into evidence the materials in that packet, it includes our application and plans, a
<br /> 14 biological inventory, a wastewater permit, an appraisal report, a well permit, and environmental
<br /> 15 assessment, a traffic impact analysis, and a forage stewardship plan, and all of that material
<br /> 16 that is part of your packet supports the findings that you will need to make this evening,without
<br /> 17 us having to repeat everything that is in them.
<br /> 18
<br /> 19 Leon Meyers: Any objection to entering that packet into evidence?
<br /> 20
<br /> 21 Kyle Myers: No.
<br /> 22
<br /> 23 Leann Brown: I think that's your standard practice to enter into evidence your entire packet as well as your
<br /> 24 staff report. So, with that done, I'm going to ask Ian to come up, from Emerson Waldorf, and
<br /> 25 explain to you a bit about why they have chosen to come down this path. After that, I'll have
<br /> 26 Laura Holloman come up. She will give you her credentials. I'll ask that you certify her as an
<br /> 27 expert without my popping up to ask. And then after that, I plan for Nick Kirkland to testify, as
<br /> 28 our appraiser with Kirkland Appraisers, and would ask that you also listen to his credentials
<br /> 29 and receive him as an expert. And then beyond that, if you have questions of any of the other
<br /> 30 members of the team,we are here. I'll come back up at the end and bat just a tad bit of cleanup,
<br /> 31 and thank you.
<br /> 32
<br /> 33 Ian Ostrowski: Good evening, everyone. I am Ian Ostrowski,facilities director at Emerson Waldorf. So we are
<br /> 34 seeking these changes, I'd say, primarily because early, or during the pandemic, we realized
<br /> 35 a desire and the benefits of being more outdoors with a lot of our programming at the school.
<br /> 36 And so, and we hadn't taken that into account in 2015, and we didn't have areas where kids
<br /> 37 could be primarily. Currently, our kindergarten, especially, is spending a lot more time outside,
<br /> 38 and so we wanted to make some provisions for that. So, in our modification, we've asked for,
<br /> 39 we've got some outdoor classroom areas and a bathroom that can serve those students as
<br /> 40 they are out in the woods and not in their building, and so that was the primary reason for trying
<br /> 41 to revisit this. And we removed the gym because that was just not, it's kind of a pipe dream of
<br /> 42 a thing at the time, and not something that is as important to our community currently and just
<br /> 43 would have been difficult where it was. And the theater support building, for similar reasons:
<br /> 44 don't really have enough room, and we do a lot of theater at the school, and so that's why that
<br /> 45 was added. But yeah, it's all pretty minor, and it's mostly to try to be more outside.
<br /> 46
<br /> 47 Laura Holloman: Hey, good evening, members of the Board of Adjustment. I'm very happy to be here. My name
<br /> 48 is Laura Holloman. I'm with McAdams, as Leann said. I'm a professional planner. I am the
<br /> 49 director of development entitlement. I'm a North Carolina native, received my Bachelor in Public
<br /> 50 Management from App State University in 2005, and certified planner since 2012, so I've been
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