Representatives of Elon University were put through their paces this week when they approached Elon’s town council with a proposal to repurpose an old residence hall as an elementary school for dyslexic children.
Preston M. Mitchell, a land planner with Womble Bond Dickinson, appeared before the council on Tuesday to pitch this request which, if approved, will allow this former dorm on Trollinger Avenue to serve as a temporary home for the new school.
Dubbed Roberts Academy after its patrons – Marjorie and Hall Roberts of Lakeland, Forida – this school will ultimately provide a specialized setting for kids with dyslexia to hone their reading abilities. According to the university, this school will eventually serve up to 200 students a year when it opens on the grounds of Elon’s main campus in 2028. But as a temporary measure, the university plans to put up the school’s inaugural class at the Trollinger House, a former residence hall that’s located within the town’s downtown development district.
Mitchell informed the council that, after extensive discussions with the town’s planning staff, the university’s representatives have decided to seek some tweaks to the town’s land management ordinance in order to accommodate this proposal.
The requested amendments included some additional language to the ordinance’s definition of an elementary school as well as separate provision to permit the “adaptive reuse” of downtown facilities for classroom instruction. This proposed addendum would be further limited to schools that host fewer than 50 students in kindergarten through grade five.
Mitchell told the council that these modifications would allow the university to overcome existing requirements for setbacks, buffers, and acreage of elementary school sites that currently preclude the Trollinger House from filling this use.
“This is a temporary location,” he added. “There is a proposal to construct a new building on campus. So, the idea was not to mess with what’s already there. That intent should remain for new construction. Instead, we want to focus on adaptive reuse.”
Although Mitchell’s proposal came to the council with the blessing of the town’s planning staff, it didn’t quite make the grade with Elon’s mayor Emily Sharpe, who found an ordinance amendment to be a rather blunt instrument for the university’s needs.
“I think Roberts Academy is awesome,” she went on to declare. “My concern is that we’re being asked to change the LMO for just one building – and a temporary use.”
Sharpe suggested that the university should try to accomplish through some other means, such as a variance or a conditional zoning request. Lori Oakley said that Trollinger Hall doesn’t currently meet the town’s setback requirements and would be ineligible for a zoning permit under the existing rules. She added, however, that the staff has yet to run other potential alternatives by the town’s legal counsel.
Sharpe encouraged the university to explore other avenues for achieving its ends without mucking around with the text of the land management ordinance. Her recommendation nevertheless failed to pass muster with councilman Randy Orwig, who found the university’s request to be reasonable enough.
“I think that, once again, we’re overreacting,” he said, “I don’t feel this is an unfair or an unsafe change [to the ordinance].”
In the end, Sharpe tempered her demands in deference to the university’s plans to have Roberts Academy up and running in time to welcome its inaugural class of students later this year.
“I think it would be a disservice to the students to delay,” she conceded. “I still don’t want to change the LMO, and I think there could be a better route. But here we are.”
The council went on to conclude its discussion with a consensus that it would vote on the university’s proposed amendments when it convenes for its next regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday, February 23.
