Council to Resolve School Dispute

The Rolling Hills Estates City Council on Tuesday took preliminary action to resolve a longstanding dispute between neighbors, the city and the Peninsula Heritage School at Palos Verdes Drive North and Rolling Hills Road.

Following a 3 1/2-hour public hearing, the council directed staff to prepare a resolution for a conditional-use permit requiring the school to expand, pave and landscape its parking lot, resolve drainage problems that are affecting a neighboring home, and eventually connect to the existing sewage system. The private school currently uses septic tanks.

The council is expected to vote on the resolution Nov. 28.

Under the permit, the parking lot will be expanded from 21 to 31 spaces and landscaping will be installed to shield the lot from the view of homes. A trench and berm will be put in to carry drainage from the school to a catch basin. The city will retain an engineering consultant, paid for by the school, to ensure the effectiveness of the drainage system.

The staff is to determine when to require the school to hook into the sewer system, but City Manager Ray Taylor said it may be within two to three years. The school has grades kindergarten through six.