Narrative Images_Page_1Compass Public Charter School Project Narrative
February 17, 2020
Compass Public Charter Schools is seeking an Alternative to Compliance for the minimum required parking
spaces for a project at 4667 W Aviator Street in the City of Meridian. The site is generally east of North
Black Cat Road and north of Franklin Road. The current school campus is moving forward with their second
phase to house the elementary school which is operating at a different location. This new elementary school
compliments Compass' secondary (6-12) current facility which opened in August 2019 at this location.
This new addition will provide a 33,243 sf, 2-story building expansion. The expansion was master planned
and will tie-in seamlessly with the architecture of the existing school building and the site.
UDC items proposed to be Modified:
UDC 11-4-3-14.1
Parking Space Requirement: In all Commercial and Residential Districts, education institutions shall provide
one parking space for every four hundred (400) square feet of gross floor area. (Ord. 19-1833, 7-9-2019)
Reason for Non-compliance with UDC:
At the time the original 68,134 sf building was approved, 167 parking spaces were provided, 30 more than
what was required by the ordinance in place at the time (1 space per 500 square feet of gross floor area).
With this addition, the square footage of the building will total 101,377 sf, requiring 253 parking spaces (1
space per 400 square feet of gross floor area), which would require the addition of 86 spaces to the campus.
The original master plan intended to provide additional parking on the property the school owns on the
north side of Aviator Street. There were concerns with pedestrians crossing a public street (Aviator) to
access the school site. This concern grows as development continues in the area and when Aviator gets
extended to the east. The current parking utilization for both campuses is as follows:
Description
Elementary
Campus
Secondary School
Campus
Total
Current Space Utilized
55
115
6 Barrier Free
176 spaces
Total Provided
167 spaces
Parking shortfall
9 spaces
Proposed Method of Alternative Compliance:
At this time, the school has a purchase agreement in place for a 5-acre parcel immediately adjacent and
east of the school site. On February 6, 2020 the City of Meridian held a Predevelopment meeting for this
East parcel. At this meeting, Compass presented both future parking and play fields to expand their overall
current master plan after obtaining annexation and the necessary City approvals. The current site plan
design for the East parcel will provide between 50-100 spaces which will serve both the Elementary School
and activities on the future recreation fields.
As an alternative compliance method, the school will provide monthly incremental parking counts to the
City to demonstrate the number of actual utilized spaces for the period of one year.
During this period, the school will closely monitor parking needs and demands, engaging in various methods
to control parking to the 167 existing spaces. Mandatory carpooling and limiting/restricting student parking
on campus are some of the ways the School will manage parking operations until the future East parcel is
developed.
W:\1911170PH Compass Charter School -Phase 2\ Doc u me nts\Documents\Alternative Compliance for Reduced Parking\Alternative Compliance
for Reduced Parking narrative rev02.docx