Suffolk City Council rejects proposed school site

SUFFOLK

Deciding where in southern Suffolk to build a new elementary school continues to divide a normally unanimous School Board.

The new school will replace Robertson and Southwestern elementary schools - in the Whaleyville and Holland areas, respectively. The majority of board members have said they'd like it to be built between the two villages.

On Wednesday, the City Council rejected a location tucked amid farmland. Two School Board members who are hoping for a more visible site praised the decision.

"That was a fair vote as far as I'm concerned," board member Thelma Hinton said. "A school should not be on back roads."

Vice Chairman William Whitley, on the other hand, expressed frustration, saying the issue has turned political.

The proposed location - 1553 Copeland Road - has no water or sewer facilities and is part of the city's "rural agricultural conservation area." The comprehensive plan discourages "large primary schools" in that area, preferring to put them in the rural villages.

Last month, the Planning Commission rejected the location, saying it didn't comply with the city's comprehensive plan. On Wednesday, City Council agreed.

That plan isn't "written in stone," Whitley said. He favors the Copeland Road spot because it's between Whaleyville and Holland.

"I have tried to base my decision solely on what would be fair to both communities and what would be best for the School Board," Whitley said. "I call that just common sense. Evidently common sense doesn't come into play."

Board member Enoch Copeland - whose borough includes Holland - calls it a "plain and simple lack of vision." He and Hinton said the proposed choice is too isolated. They prefer building the school in the Holland community.

"To put a school in the middle... of no-man's land, then the school belongs to no one," Hinton said. "No one has ownership."

The board has reviewed at least 17 sites but has revealed only the Copeland Road choice and a spot in the Holland area off U.S. 58 near O'Kelly Drive. The board took the unusual step of taking a public vote on the latter site in January, at the request of Copeland. It was rejected 4-3. Copeland and Hinton said they still consider it the best site. Other than Whitley, the remaining board members did not return calls for comment.

With the City Council's rejection of the farmland site, the ball is in the School Board's court.

Hattie Brown Garrow, 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com