Bonsall Sponsor Group opposes Willow Tree enrichment center

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Bonsall Sponsor Group expressed its opposition to the Willow Tree academic enrichment center in its proposed location.

A 5-0 vote Sept. 7 approved a motion not to support a Major Use Permit for Willow Tree. The opposition was based on traffic concerns. The sponsor group action was a recommendation, and Friends of Willow Tree may still seek County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors approval to build a school in the 6800 block of West Lilac Road although enrichment center leaders may also pursue another site.

"It's just not the correct location for a school," said sponsor group member Richard Hatano.

"The traffic is a huge concern," said sponsor group chair Steve Norris. "It's just too much."

Norris noted that the sponsor group needed to consider both the benefits of the school and the rights of existing property owners. "Really what it comes down to is kind of a balance of the equity," he said.

Friends of Willow Tree has submitted a Major Use Permit application to the county for a school which would encompass 6.41 acres of a 14-acre site just west of Sullivan Middle School. The site consists of two parcels. The Major Use Permit is only for the front parcel, and Friends of Willow Tree has no plans to build on the back parcel.

The campus would educate students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. The application specifies a maximum of 216 students. The enrichment center would have nine buildings totaling 41,000 square feet. The school grounds would also have 85 parking stalls. The class size would be approximately 14 students, although 24 students would be enrolled in each of the nine class grades. The approximate student to instructor ratio at Willow Tree is 2:1.

Most of the instruction involves the students being at remote locations rather than on the school site. Performing and vocational arts instruction and physical education would take place at the school. The Bonsall campus would include a two-story building 30 feet tall. Half of the space would be used for a theater encompassing both stories, one-quarter of the facility would be a library on the second story, and one-quarter of the building would have a kitchen area.

Willow Tree was initially Pathways Academy and was chartered by the Bonsall Unified School District. A change in state law required a charter school to be within the geographical area of the district which approved the charter, so Pathways Academy became the independent Willow Tree Enrichment Center.

Initially Willow Tree was located at the former St. Stephen’s Church on East Mission Road but, when the Fallbrook Regional Health District took over that facility, Willow Tree relocated and the school is currently using the Living Waters church building. Willow Tree had 134 students during 2019-20.

Willow Tree is neither a charter school nor a private school. Friends of Willow Tree director Bethany Chaffin explained that Willow Tree is an enrichment center which works with eight different charter schools and with homeschooling parents.

"We are a support for homeschool families," Chaffin said.

Approximately 60% of the current Willow Tree enrollment is from students living within the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District or Bonsall Unified School District boundaries. Chaffin noted that many parents who send their children to Willow Tree have other children who attend a local public school. Most of the remaining 40% of students are from Vista, Oceanside, and Pauma Valley. The furthest student lives in Murrieta. Currently 14% of the students are Bonsall residents.

On Aug. 3, the sponsor group deferred a vote on a recommendation for or against a Major Use Permit due to concerns about traffic impacts, and Friends of Willow Tree was asked to provide an operational plan. The permit would limit attendance to 216 students, although Chaffin noted that not all 216 would be on campus at once and not all 216 would be traveling to or from the school at once. "They all come at different times," she said.

Sullivan Middle School is also currently the site of Bonsall High School. "We will be working our start and dismissal times around the other local schools so we do not interfere with them," said Friends of Willow Tree Project Manager Bob Kelley. "There will be no impact from Willow Tree being put on Lilac."

Sponsor group member Larissa Anderson is also the president of the Bonsall Unified School District board. "I cannot support any additional students from other schools," she said. "My main concern is the safety of students who are currently on Lilac Road."

The middle school and high school were evacuated during the December 2017 Lilac Fire and, if an evacuation is needed, students would be removed at the same time. "To add a third to the equation makes no sense," Anderson said of Willow Tree traffic being added to Sullivan and Bonsall High School traffic.

Nearby residents noted that Willow Tree traffic at times other than the existing school peak hours would create more congestion periods. "It's just going to add to it," said Joe DuPont, who has lived in Bonsall for approximately 30 years. "I am tired of being stuck in traffic trying to get home from work or trying to go somewhere."

"Our traffic here is getting intolerable," said former Bonsall Unified School District board member Erin English.

"We just can't bring in a school that will add to the congestion that's already there," said Bonsall Unified School District parent and Sullivan Middle School teacher Michelle Nordeen.

"I'd just be reluctant to add to that," Norris said.

Wrightwood Road resident Mike Hulsizer argued that the traffic count is based on the current student population. "They don't have an accurate traffic count," he said.

Public schools are exempt from the county's Zoning Ordinance. A non-public school on the site Friends of Willow Tree owns would require a Major Use Permit but not a rezone.

"It's a commercial structure and it belongs in a commercial area," Hulsizer said.

Sponsor group member Dawn Apsley voted not to support the project due to concerns that the county might not widen West Lilac Road but noted the need for additional student capacity in Bonsall. "We will need more schools," she said.

"If it does not get built then where do these kids go?" Apsley said. "Another school is important because we're going to get a lot of population."

Apsley noted that the project would bring 59 additional cars at different times. "I don't see a big problem with it," she said.

"I'm just looking forward to the day when we have a balance between the community needs and the education facilities," Anderson said.