Brightmont Academy Wants to Open Plymouth Location

A learning center is asking Plymouth for permission to set up shop near Highway 55 and Fernbrook Lane.

Brightmont Academy—a private, accredited academy for sixth through 12th grades—wants to add a site at 2855 Glacier Lane to the eight locations total it has in Arizona, California, Michigan and Washington.

The company specializes in working with students one-on-one. Students may receive tutoring, work toward earning credit in a course or complete courses.

Typical campuses have eight to 10 learning rooms with a handful of students working in the rooms at any given time, according to a letter Brightmont submitted to the city. A campus director is responsible for meeting with families, developing a learning plan and scheduling instructional sessions.

Brightmont needs the city to change its zoning ordinance for it to be allowed at the Glacier Lane location because learning centers aren’t allowed in highway commercial districts—which contain businesses that primarily serve motorists and require high traffic volumes and visibility.

Under existing ordinances, learning centers are currently only allowed as a conditional use in neighborhood commercial and city center, retail and entertainment districts. They’re also allowed as a permitted use in community commercial, business campus and public institutional districts.

The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the ordinance change at its June 19 meeting. City Council members will review the matter at their June 25 meeting.