Planning Commission Denies Montessori School Applicant

A popular area Montessori school in West Bloomfield will not relocate to a larger space on Orchard Lake Road under its current site plan.

The voted against the applicant, Jayeeta Champati, at its joint meeting Tuesday with the Wetland Review Board at . The commission cited concerns with deed restrictions and traffic at the home on 5335 Orchard Lake Rd., just north of Walnut Lake Road, which Champati owns and where she had hoped to move her Eager Minds Montessori School to accommodate more students.

Champati, who currently operates the school for children ages 2-6 from her home at 2100 Bloomfield Woods Ct., had previously come before the board Dec. 14 to simply get initial comments and reaction to the project before asking the commission for approval on its site plan and to be granted a special land-use permit. The permit would be required to use the home on Orchard Lake, which is zoned in a residential area, for a nonresidential use such as the school.

According to the minutes from the Dec. 14 meeting, Secretary Nancy Reed had asked Champati whether there were any deed restrictions on the home that would prevent it from being used for any purpose besides a single family living there; Champati said she was informed by her real estate agent and bank that there were none.

But Reed said Tuesday that she had looked into the issue of deed restrictions herself and discovered that there were restrictions against using the home for any other use. Reed said that although the board was not formally obligated to comply with deed restrictions, she felt it necessary to uphold them in this instance.

“This board has upheld deed restrictions in that area on two separate occasions prior to this applicant, and we’re being consistent,” Reed said after three residents from the surrounding neighborhood had voiced their dissent during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“In this economy, I’m shocked and amazed that the commission would vote to turn down the opportunity for us to create jobs,” said Patrick Champati, who was at the meeting with his wife, Jayeeta. "We employ three teachers currently, and we’re hoping to double or triple the amount of those jobs."

According to minutes, Jayeeta Champati said in the Dec. 14 meeting that the school currently handles 12 children at a time and that she hopes to expand to 35 children under the site plan. Her site plan complies with requirements for parking with eight parking and seven loading spaces, and she said at the meeting that she widened the curb to 35 feet to accommodate parents picking up and dropping off their children.

Commission member Jim Manna said he was concerned about cars packing into the driveway in the morning and afternoon on a street where the speed limit is 45 miles per hour.

“As these cars are slowing down and you’ve got cars piling up on the driveway, now you’ve got cars stopping on Orchard Lake Road, and I’m worried about the kids. If someone’s not watching and there’s an accident, we’ve got a bigger problem. I don’t think we’re adding more cars, but the issue is safety,” Manna said.

After being denied by the board, Champata admitted that she would go back to the drawing board with her heart set on working at that site.

"When I did a poll with the parents, they do not want a commercial setup," she said during the meeting. "To move to a commercial building would have been easier, but I'm not going to have my children follow me there."

The board voted 6-0 to reject the application with Manna, Reed, Don Jackson, Albert Abbo, Vice Chair Steven Budaj and Chair Karmen Santourian voting no. Township board liaison Steven Kaplan was absent.