City Council OKs Preschool at Knob Hill Church

A Montessori preschool was granted permission to operate on the grounds of a  Knob Hill Avenue church by the City Council on Tuesday. 

A heated public hearing went on for hours before the council finally denied an appeal by a group of residents from the 900 block of Knob Hill Avenue, who argued that the preschool would bring hazardous traffic conditions and noise to the already busy street.   

The city's Planning Commission approved a permit last month for the school, located at 907 Knob Hill Ave. The site has been occupied by the Redondo Beach CRS Center for Spiritual Living church for more than 40 years, and the preschool would operate in the center's Sunday school classroom building.  

The council acknowledged the traffic issues, but added that the zoning in the area (R-1, Single Family Residential) allows a church to operate a preschool within its facility as long as safety concerns are resolved.  

"What we'll have to rule on tonight is the legality," Councilman Pat Aust said. "It's easy to believe that it is going to be a whole lot worse because something new is going to happen, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the situation is going to turn out to be that way."    

The Montessori school will offer a toddler to kindergarten education program with 11 instructors and staff and a maximum of 84 students. It will also provide before and after school care from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m., said Claudia Krikorian, permit applicant and owner of the Peninsula and Torrance Montessori schools.

Krikorian said the preschool would not generate a lot of noise like some of the residents have feared, and the classroom entrance would be in the parking lot, not on the street. 

Jane Harris, a resident and a retired elementary school principal, said there is no such thing as a "quiet" preschool.  

"The nature of a school is a busy place," Harris said. "I'm an advocate of children, my objection is the location." 

"It's the traffic, it's the noise, and most importantly, it's the safety issue which will impact the quality of our life in the city," she said.  

Currently, there are 13 houses, three churches and two preschools in the block on 900 Knob Hill Avenue. Several residents said an additional preschool would be more than the neighborhood needed.    

Other people at the council hearing, including a few parents who take their children to the Montessori schools in Palos Verdes and Torrance, said that a Montessori preschool would be a great addition to the community.  

Rev. Moira Foxe of the CRS Center for Spiritual Living said the school would not create a dangerous traffic environment. "If we thought even for one minute that our children, anybody's children, would be in danger in any way by having a school there, we wouldn't have it," she said.  

"It will be a small school, well ordered, well taken care of," Foxe continued. "We're assuring you, council members and neighbors, that what Claudia [Krikorian] says it will be, is what it will be." 

In the end, Mayor Mike Gin summed up the sentiment the council, school and residents shared. Montessori schools are highly regarded institutions, he said, but the impact of the project needs to be mitigated. Gin recommended that the council review the project in six months to see what kind of traffic resolutions the city engineer comes up with to make Knob Hill Avenue safe and less congested. The council suggested that access to the preschool be limited to Prospect Avenue.     

The council voted 2 to 2 to deny the appeal, and Gin voted to veto the tie Tuesday night.