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Private School Is On The Move

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

LUTZ - A Hillsborough County land-use hearing officer has approved a private preschool's move from the east side of Lutz into the downtown historical district.

Hand in Hand Academy, which has been holding classes at the former campus of the First United Methodist Church of Lutz, got permission to convert the church buildings into a school with development conditions.

The school at 202 W. Lutz-Lake Fern Road will be allowed to have up to 175 students, with up to 85 children in the daycare program, according to a decision by hearing officer Andrea College.

The school has up to 21,610 square feet of space and serves children from kindergarten to fifth-grade.

The 4-acre site includes two playground areas, four buildings and a drop-off area. The 95-year-old church recently moved to a new building down the street near Merry Lane.

College denied the school's request to add the parcel across the street to its site plan and to use it as overflow parking.

The county's development code requires 31 parking spaces, and the school has 36, so the extra parking is not needed, College wrote in a seven-page report.

The school also will have to set aside 48 feet of right-of-way on the north side of the road for the expansion of Lutz-Lake Fern Road.
School officials sought an exemption to the right-of-way dedication, but College said the land is necessary for future roadway upgrades in front of the school, such as a left-turn lane.

College also gave the school permission to pave up to half the parking spaces and to use an alternative material such as turf block for the remaining spaces.

The approval requires several development upgrades to improve access for pedestrians and vehicles, such as building a sidewalk to connect a building to a parking area, and removing the parking spaces on the east side and replacing it with a 10-foot landscape buffer.

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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