Letter to the Editor: Many Have No Idea What Sustainability Is

Editor's Note: Learning Gate Education Foundation executive director Patti Girard issues a response to last week's protests and support during a land use meeting for the school's proposed high school in Lutz. Learning Gate Community School draws students from all over Hillsborough and Pasco County.

For all of you who attended the Special Use Hearing on Monday to show support for the school, thank you. The letters of support that were submitted to the county, the signed petitions and your physical presence and comments made quite an impact. Those that opposed the school were very vocal.

Basically, the major complaints were concerning the traffic that will be generated by the school on Sunset Blvd., destruction of the wetlands, and the impact on the water supply.

Anticipating the above concerns, we had addressed solutions during our presentation.

Traffic
We have agreed to begin and dismiss school during non-peak hours and to stagger these times depending on the grade. All of you, who attend LG are very familiar with our staggered dismissal procedures and how effective they are. We have also designed a very long drive into the site to avoid any backups on either road.
We will also strongly request that you carpool whenever possible.

Wetlands
The property for GATES school is a total of approximately 62 acres. The wetland areas total approximately 21 acres and uplands 40 acres. We will impact less than an acre of wetlands because of a road we will need to construct to connect the school with Highway 41. All other wetlands will remain in their natural state.

Water
At Learning Gate we have been able to reduce our water usage by 70% by using cisterns that collect rainwater and dew. We will use cisterns and other methods to reduce that water usage even more at GATES. Also, we will not need to drill a well. The subdivision that is closest to the property has its own well that is much too large for their use and has offered to share it with us.

What we did learn listening to the opposition is that there are many people who have no idea what sustainability is or how it is possible to build a 1,000-student school and have a minimal impact on the land or the habitats of animals.

That will be the responsibility of our GATES students, families and teachers to educate the community on how it can be done successfully.
What is next?

The Hearing Master has 15 days to respond to our petition with either an approval or denial. At that point, there may be an appeal. We may need you to show your support again if an appeal is filed. In the mean time, please take every opportunity to spread the good word about GATES and if you come across any inaccurate information please let us know so that it can get corrected.

We are ready to begin the pre-development process as soon as we get approval. We still have a couple months of site approval by the building department. After our permits are approved we are hoping to break ground sometime in the fall.

We have continued to solidify more partnerships. The Florida Aquarium has agreed to working with our students and offering internships at the aquarium for interested students. Beck, who will be designing and building the school, is also on board for internships.

We continue to develop partnerships with entities that will be of interest to our students.

We are in the very early stages of our “School Raising” which will take place in the spring and summer of 2013. We have a parent, who has agreed to take on this huge project. There will be ample opportunities for everyone to volunteer over the next year as we build Phase One of our high school.

Our 1st community service project will be to adopt Sunset Lane. Kris Smith has coordinated the road cleanup at LG and will be happy to talk with anyone interested in doing the same for GATES. She can be reached at 813-948-4190. 

Expect more updates as the activity increases on the project.

Patti Girard

Executive director of the Learning Gate Education Foundation

*In the interest of full disclosure, Land O' Lakes Patch editor Keli Sipperley's children attend Learning Gate Community School.