Alternative Compliance Narrative
W:\1911170PH Compass Charter School - Phase 2\Documents\Documents\Alternative Compliance for Reduced Parking\Alternative Compliance
for Reduced Parking rev01.docx
Compass Public Charter School Project Narrative
February 8, 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.I
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.
Proposed Method of Alternative Compliance:
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 it ems
to control parking, should it be needed. Mandatory carpooling and limiting which students can park on
campus are some of the ways the School will manage parking, should it be necessary.
Should the existing 167 spaces not prove adequate after the one-year monitoring period, the school will
construct the necessary spaces.
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.
Compass Schools is respectfully requesting that this Alternative for Compliance for a reduction in required
parking spaces be granted by the City of Meridian.