2 Tucson private schools notified of city code violations

Two midtown private schools are scrambling to correct city zoning violations with the new school year just weeks away.

The schools, Pathways School and Veritas Academy, are within blocks of each other in midtown’s Palo Verde Neighborhood, near Catalina High School.

Pathways, 3618 E. Pima St., is a new school serving students with special needs and Veritas, 2151 N. Palo Verde Blvd. serves Christian students who are home-schooled part time.

Unlike district and charter schools, private schools must abide by city code, said John Beall, section manager for entitlement and special exception at the city’s planning and zoning department. The heads of both schools said they were unaware of that fact.

There are requirements for educational uses regarding hours of operation, outdoor activities, vehicular and pedestrian access, passenger drop-off areas and the size of the campus, according to Beall.

Both Pathways and Veritas are on the campuses of churches in a residential area and neither meet the 5-acre requirement to operate a school, which is why they need to apply for special exceptions.

The schools’ violations came to the city’s attention when members of the Palo Verde Neighborhood Association contacted Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik.

“Both schools were operating in good faith,” he said. “Neither of them were trying to slip through the cracks.”

But they must still go through the proper rezoning process, he added.

Ronni Kotwica, president of the neighborhood association, said she and other neighbors did not know that Veritas was operating as a school and that another one, Pathways, was going to open in August.

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In Veritas’ case, neighbors didn’t realize it was a school for several months; neighbors only found out after members of the senior community neighboring the school complained of noise.

“They started noticing all of the screaming and yelling at 7:30 in the morning up until 5:30 in the afternoon,” Kotwica said.

Both schools are working to make amends, Kozachik said. They have met with the neighborhood association and city officials to start the process for special exceptions.

The process can take four to six months, he said. In the meantime, with the stipulation that both schools go through the proper zoning process, they would be issued temporary certificates of occupancy so they could open for the new school year.

For Veritas, a school of about 90 students, there are additional conditions. The school must work to rectify the disruption to the neighboring community.

That means extending an existing block wall, moving around playground equipment and increasing supervision of children during school hours, said Christopher Barnes, head of Veritas Academy.

“We’re sorry for any of the problems that we have had,” he said. “We’re working to be good neighbors.”

Pathways School is assessing what renovations need to be made for the special exception process, said Debra DeLabio, the school’s director. Upon receiving the notice of violation from the city, the school immediately sought out an architect and began the application.

“We’re moving forward feeling very positive,” she said. “We intend to do everything that we’re expected to do under the guidelines of the city.”