Proposed plans for additions to Bodine School in Germantown were unanimously approved, receiving support and pushback from nearby residents.
A revised final site plan and conditional use permit was endorsed by the Germantown Planning Commission for the Bodine School expansion during its more than two-hour Sept. 1 meeting. Planning commission members were in agreement the school adequately addressed and mitigated residents' traffic concerns related to the expansion plans.
Parking is proposed to increase from 33 parking spaces to 66 parking spaces. On-site vehicle stacking capacity at dismissal is proposed to increase from six vehicles to 43 vehicles.
Bodine School is expected to increase its student body to 140 students and have a total of 58 vehicles,
including 43 on-site and 15 off-site vehicles that queue along surrounding roadways before dismissal.
"Bodine has a wonderful mission and provides a great service to our community," said Jennifer Session, who serves on the planning commission. "I went through the staff reports, and Bodine has met the standards set forth in our ordinances. In its current state, there is a traffic and safety problem. This is a plan that is proposed to bring a lot of those cars off the street. I see this as a positive situation not only for the school but to address those concerns."
Bodine School, 2432 Yester Oaks Drive, has plans to expand the existing 18,039-square-foot school on 5.38 acres.
Bodine School serves students in grades 1-5 who have been diagnosed with dyslexia or similar difficulties with reading. Bodine is located east of Yester Oaks Drive, north of Poplar Avenue and southeast of the intersection of Dogwood Road and Yester Oaks Drive.
What will the new space include?
The proposed project includes the construction of a 23,000-square-foot building that would include an all-purpose space and four new classrooms, a library, a new playground area, student center with a gym and selected renovations to the existing building. The expansion would increase Bodine School's building total space to roughly 44,000 square feet.
The project would also increase school capacity by 40 students. Bodine School currently serves 100 students with a faculty of 29 total staff members. With the proposed expansion, the school anticipates increasing enrollment to a maximum of 140 students over five-years and expand faculty staff to 36.
The proposed new building would be located behind the existing school facility.
Head of School glad for stamp of approval
John Murphy, Bodine's head of school, told the Commercial Appeal following the meeting that he was pleased the expansion got the stamp of approval from the planning commission. He said Bodine's increase in enrollment has been due to natural growth, as the school has a growing waiting list for students.
"I'm excited about moving forward, and we asked for this expansion in order to be able to serve 40 more students," Murphy said. "We currently can serve 100, and we wanted to serve 140, so that was our main driver behind asking for this. We also are going to make some improvements to our campus, which we need. The main thing is to serve 40 more students with dyslexia, that is our mission."
School pick-up times could be discussed
Murphy stated that the proposed expansion will allow the school to queue up more vehicles on campus than what the school can do now.
"We do need to probably work more with our parents about timing on when they get to school (to pick up their children), " Murphy said. "We're very much interested in being good neighbors."
The residents who addressed concerns about the expansion made it clear they support the mission of Bodine School.
Some even spoke about providing a donation toward the expansion.
In addition to concerns about increased traffic, residents like Larry Willis — who has lived more than 20 years on Redbud Trail Clove — said his main issue is dealing with drainage. In Germantown's capital improvement plan, the suburb is striving to lessen drainage on Redbud Trail.
"For the last 20 years, the drainage has become more and more predominate, flowing from Bodine into all the backyards on the southside of the property," Willis said. "I hope in this construction some of the existing issues with drainage into the houses or backyards on the southside of the property can be mitigated with more new construction. I don't oppose the construction, and you guys (Bodine) are great neighbors, but please help us out."
Parents speak about school's impact
Several supporters of the proposed Bodine School expansion had children and grandchildren, who attend the school. They all expressed the impact the school has had on improving their children's' reading skills and building up their self-esteem.
Ashley Jamieson, who lives on Yester Oaks Drive, spoke passionately about how Bodine helped her daughter Caroline overcome the reading challenges she was experiencing. She said it's important for Bodine to do this expansion.
"If you ever watched your child struggle to read it's hard to describe the heartbreak," Jamieson said. "Before Bodine, I watched my daughter sit at the desk feeling invisible, defeated and completely overwhelmed. Bodine didn't just teach her how to read but restored her dignity, confidence and self-worth. Bodine is looking to update their facilities to open its doors to 40 more children. That is 40 more Carolines and 40 more parents sitting at home tonight praying for a lifeline for their child."
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Bodine School expansion OK'd by Germantown Planning Commission
