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7 Draft
<br /> 1 practicing in the triangle for over 20 years now,which is crazy to say but here we are. So,thank
<br /> 2 you for allowing me to speak on this item. So, staff has done a wonderful job throughout the
<br /> 3 process, really making sure we captured everything. As you all know, SUPs can be very labor
<br /> 4 intensive, and they've certainly really helped us make sure that we are adhering to all the legal
<br /> 5 standards that we needed to, so certainly thank them for all their help getting us to this point
<br /> 6 tonight. So as Ashley mentioned — I'll try not to repeat too much of what she said since she
<br /> 7 gave a great overview. As she said we've, this is an existing school. It's been in operation
<br /> 8 since, I think, 1988 so been there for a while. And the great thing about this school is you
<br /> 9 wouldn't know that it's there unless you visited or live in the surrounding area. They really put
<br /> 10 an emphasis to be one with nature and not one against nature, so they've got a lot of existing
<br /> 11 tree canopy,and as Ian mentioned,they're very committed to outdoor classroom space. Really,
<br /> 12 the focus is being outside and in the nature environment, rather than building a more traditional
<br /> 13 school that we think of in the public school system. So, I'll go over, briefly, what those changes
<br /> 14 are, although I think staff did a good job. One thing to mention that really pops off this page is
<br /> 15 just the existing landscape, perimeter buffer areas that won't be touched as part of this SUP.
<br /> 16 No matter that that was the case back in 2015, so we're, as staff mentioned, we are meeting
<br /> 17 all the minimum and exceeding those on the periphery and really keeping those existing tree
<br /> 18 coverage, which certainly, I'm sure, would be important to the surrounding area. In terms of
<br /> 19 what we're showing as improvements, staff did mention that we are actually decreasing our
<br /> 20 previously approved square footage by 18,878, and that is coming from, as Ian mentioned,
<br /> 21 getting rid of the main area was the gymnasium, of course. That had a large associated square
<br /> 22 footage with it, but obviously with, it was expensive, and now that they've adopted more of,
<br /> 23 they've kept their COVID kind of curriculum of being outside. They've realized that they can
<br /> 24 put those resources into other things on campus. So everything that you see in purple, that is
<br /> 25 still the case with what is being added. And then those are the new buildings. Yellow is what's
<br /> 26 existing there today, and then the green is the existing tree-save areas. So, the idea is there's
<br /> 27 obviously a new arts center that's 11,800 square feet. That's here. There's the auditorium in
<br /> 28 this area. Building additions to the high school is in this area, and then connecting the east and
<br /> 29 west wings of the lower school. But the main, of course, is the main goal here and, of course,
<br /> 30 in the near term, is just adding these open-air pavilions right now for outdoor classroom space.
<br /> 31 There's existing what I would think of when you think of almost a pop-up tailgate tent that's out
<br /> 32 there now that has been used for a number of years, so they're more than ready, and they're
<br /> 33 at that point where they can put some permanent structures there for folks to enjoy, as well as
<br /> 34 the bathrooms, which will be utilized by folks during their outdoor curriculum time. Just to
<br /> 35 reiterate, the setbacks, as staff mentioned, we're meeting all of those minimum setback
<br /> 36 requirements. Touched on the tree preservation areas, but we are meeting all those. We are
<br /> 37 also meeting all the parking standards. Just one of our modifications, as you noticed, was to
<br /> 38 allow those to be gravel, but we are still meeting the landscape standards, so within that, we
<br /> 39 acknowledge that that's still an impervious area, and we'd like to break that up with
<br /> 40 landscaping. But just overall, we are very committed to having a more natural look and feel,
<br /> 41 and they wish to do that with gravel,which ties in a little better in the natural environment rather
<br /> 42 than a more harsh asphalt pavement, which contributes more to the heat-adding effect out
<br /> 43 there. So, at this time, I'm happy to entertain any questions that you have before we call up the
<br /> 44 appraisal, appraiser.
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<br /> 46 Leon Meyers: Board members, questions for Ms. Holloman?
<br /> 47
<br /> 48 Nathan Robinson: Just out of curiosity, I see the timber structures. Are those — and on, must be Exhibit 1, are
<br /> 49 those listed separately from a square footage perspective? Are those considered part of the
<br /> 50 square foot or no?
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