Canyon Uproar

While it is too soon to declare war on tree-lined, most-of-the-time quiet Stansbury Avenue, it would be fair to point out that all is not peaceful.

At issue are preliminary plans for the private, 750-student Buckley School to nearly double in square footage and increase enrollment by 220 students some day.

Word of the proposed expansion has irked some homeowners in the upscale neighborhood tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains. They say the 65-year-old school, which has been at its current location since the mid-1960s, has never been a good neighbor, causing too much noise, traffic, parking difficulties and other problems.

And they say adding 68,000 square feet to the school’s existing 98,000-square-foot complex, including building second stories to several existing structures, can only make things worse.

Disgruntled neighbors, many of them members of local homeowners’ associations, this month issued a statement denouncing the school’s plans as “rapacious development of Oak Forest Canyon,” an area adjacent to a protected state park.

“The Buckley School has released this monster onto the community and is violating our trust and sensibility,” said Arnold Newman, who lives nearby on Camino de la Cumbre.

But Paul Horovitz--headmaster of the exclusive school nestled in the same wooded canyon that supposedly inspired the creator of Tarzan--said neighbors are reacting to plans that are not set in stone. More significantly, he said, even under the best of circumstances, any major construction at the school may be years down the road.

“We haven’t even begun to raise money for a capital campaign,” Horovitz said.

He said the plans represent a wish list that school officials presented to an architect to determine what type of expansion would be possible. The school remains without an estimate for construction costs, he said.

But some nearby residents say officials at the school cannot be trusted.

Problems between the school and local homeowners are not new. The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. in January sent a letter to the city Planning Commission opposing any request by the school to change its conditional use permit--the operating permit that guides the school’s enrollment and hours--and complaining about ongoing violations. A decade ago neighbors successfully lobbied the city to place greater restrictions on the hours and use of school grounds.

The conflict is further complicated by the school’s location on a dead-end street in a canyon surrounded by Fossil Ridge State Park.

Newman, who is executive director of the International Society for the Preservation of the Tropical Rainforest, said he believes the expansion plans cut into the greenbelt that the school has promised to keep in place to protect the park. “The expansion plans are emblematic of the duplicity with which the Buckley School has been dealing with the community,” Newman said.

Horovitz, who began his job in July, said he has been straightforward with community members. He said the school--where tuition and fees range from $10,870 for pre-kindergarten to $16,670 for high school--has no hidden agenda and is simply trying to address classroom overcrowding and outdated facilities, such as the combination gymnasium and theater.

The school, Horovitz said, is aggressively addressing neighbors’ complaints, ripping up the parking lot to improve traffic flow and increasing drop-off spots, as well as providing lower bus rates for students to reduce car traffic.

Horovitz said when classes begin Aug. 24, there “will not be one student” over the 750 allowed according to the conditional use permit.

Nevertheless, Newman and others are mustering the troops.

Henry Lipson, who lives near the school, said he believes Buckley administrators are only trying to appease neighbors to get concessions down the road.

“When we saw they were talking about adding 68,000 square feet of new construction it seemed apparent to us that they would also be adding more students,” said Lipson, who said traffic has become a nightmare. “They say they want to add only 220 [students] but we believe that’s only the start.”

But other Stansbury Avenue neighbors say they are bewildered by such complaints.

Robert Lobel, who has two children who attend the school and whose property is within 50 feet of school grounds, said he believes those who criticize the school are a “small vocal minority” who do not represent the feelings of the majority of neighbors.

Stephanie Tyrell, who has sent two of her children to Buckley for the past six years, said the level of anger expressed by some local residents who oppose the school’s expansion is shocking.

“The Sherman Oaks dissenters, or whatever you want to call them, are old. They don’t have young children. They seem to be on a mission,” she said. “They don’t even realize how destructive it is to families.”