Laguna Blanca School will be allowed to move forward with its plan to increase student enrollment despite pushback from residents.

On Wednesday, the Santa Barbara Planning Commission decided to block an appeal against the school in a 4-1 vote.

The vote will allow Laguna Blanca to move its application to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for approval.

The school is located in Hope Ranch and Montecito. If the proposal is approved, Laguna Blanca will increase its student enrollment from 330 to 385. The increase would count for the school’s upper and lower campuses.

Laguna Blanca stated in the past that increasing its student body would allow it to expand its classes and extracurricular activities. The expansion also would allow the school to accept more fifth-graders, a request by some parents in the area.

The commission asked administrators from the school to return during a Sept. 25 meeting with more developed plans to address traffic and parking.

In response to the commission’s comments, school administrators reworked the traffic and parking plan to clearly outline where faculty and visitors can park.

Laguna Blanca representatives also agreed to publish an annual report documenting annual student enrollment, records of complaints and describe how complaints were addressed.

A lawyer for the neighborhood association argued that the increase in student enrollment would be detrimental to the neighborhood. A photo during his presentation showed an aerial view of the school with a line of cars on Las Palmas Drive.

Marc Chytilo, an attorney for some of the residents in the neighborhood, stated that many of the residents in Hope Ranch had attended Laguna Blanca.

“It started out as a neighborhood community school. It’s now become a commuter school over the last 50 years,” said Marc Chytilo, an attorney for the association.  

One of the school’s consultants, Steve Welton, disagreed with Chytilo’s statement.  

“The school has always included people from outside the community since its foundation. So, that’s not true that it’s become a commuter school,” Welton said.

During public comment, the opinions ranged from supportive to hostile.

The first commenter in support of Laguna Blanca was David Bradley. In his comment, he mentioned that his three kids attended the school and said adding students would be beneficial.

Bradley stated that increasing enrollment would allow kids to experience the education that Laguna Blanca offers and would expose current students to more perspectives.

“Not every kid in the county wants to go to the school, but the ones who do really, really benefit from it,” Bradley said.

Chris Terrill expressed sympathy for his neighbors concerned about the increase in traffic but said it should not interfere with the work that Laguna Blanca is trying to accomplish.

“It’s simply not that hard to go and wait an extra few minutes to put my mail in the mailbox,” Terrill said. “It’s not that hard when I drop my kids off at the Montecito campus and come back.”

Terrill also said that the extra students benefit the school by providing more income for repairs to the campus and educational programs.

One of the opponents of the increase was Bruce McRoy, who said the school was not clear on the need for the extra students.

McRoy also expressed concern about whether future school administrators will work with people in the neighborhood.

“I think it’s safe to say that in five years, there will be a significant change in the administration of the school. We have no idea what will happen, and we should have some restriction,” McRoy said.

Commissioner Laura Bridley sided with Laguna Blanca during deliberations. Bridley was the lone supporter of the school during the September meeting but did not have the vote from her commissioners to move the item forward.

Bridley stated that things change and that the county does not have the power to stop it. She continued by saying that the State of California is forcing counties to build and that school districts will be affected in the future.

She also said she liked the traffic management plan that was proposed by Laguna Blanca.

“I don’t know of a single other applicant that is saying in their project description voluntarily that they will do more mitigation in case anything changes on the roadway,” Bridley said. “That’s what this is saying.”

The lone voice against the plan was Commissioner John Parke.

Parke said he agreed with much of what his fellow commissioners said but came out strongly against the school’s traffic management plan.

At one point he called the plan to use a flagger at the end of Las Palmas to direct traffic “stupid” before apologizing to whoever came up with the plan.

He continued by saying that he believed the plan would result in residents calling Supervisor Laura Capps to complain.

“It’s too complicated, it’s bureaucratic and it’s ineffective,” Parke said.

In the end, Parke was the only commissioner to vote against blocking the appeal.