Planners support new school

Last Tuesday was a pretty eventful day for the development of the St. Helena Montessori School Adolescent Program. Since I have been working there we have been waiting for the day to present the proposal for the new campus to the planning commission. I think there was a lot of doubt whether or not the commission would look favorably on the project. At the meeting it was so exciting to see the entire room of people who were in favor of the new school. It will truly be amazing if the urban limit line can be adjusted and the new campus can get started. Even my part teaching the kids the vocation of beekeeping will be a big deal. To date we have been using the College Avenue site as just a place to temporarily keep the bees. However, if the new campus goes through we will have a permanent home. A permanent home where we can further the research we have started with selective breeding from our strong indigenous bees and offering those bees to the community. Distributing the sustainable genetics around the Valley, everyone in the community would benefit from that. It would also offer us the space needed to build a first rate bee garden insectory. A garden where we could not only teach from example but offer gardeners in the area the best bee plants for all pollinators.  It would also offer us a lanscape to host professionals from around the country to teach us advanced techniques in permaculture, biodynamics, organic gardening, and all aspects of sustainable beekeeping. It's interesting how things are developing for me as a beekeeper. often other beekeepers, master gardeners, permaculturist, of just people who see the importance of the honeybee contact me and want to hang out in our apiaries as we tend bees. How amazing would it be to have a functioning garden where we could host people and share our research? I believe if we (the backyard beekeepers) are going to survive the species we'll all need to come together sharing our ideas, sharing our bees, and sharing our passion with the next generation of younger beekeepers. My fingers are crossed we get the entitlements to proceed with the campus and we can put some of this talk to action.

By Jesse Duarte
STAFF WRITER
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The planning commission is poised to sign off on a proposal to build a new campus for the St. Helena Montessori School on agriculturally zoned land at the end of College Avenue.
The Montessori School wants to extend the urban limit line and rezone nine acres of ag land for the campus. Another 13.7 acres would be preserved permanently for agriculture through a conservation easement.
Montessori School parents and students told the commission the rezoning and extension of the urban limit line are justified because the school’s curriculum would instill in students an appreciation for agriculture.
A majority of planning commissioners agreed.
“The urban limit line is there to preserve agriculture, but there are a lot of ways you can preserve agriculture,” said Commissioner Sandy Ericson. “One of them is by teaching people to engage in it.”
The commission continued the matter to its March 17 meeting because the project’s environmental review is still in the middle of a 30-day public comment period.
Supporters said students would learn to value agriculture through a new organic farm where they would grow fruit, nuts, vegetables, herbs and flowers.
The new farm would be consistent with the philosophy of Montessori education, which encourages students to experience nature first-hand, said Alexander Heil, whose mother Elena co-founded the school in 1981.
“The farm gives the students in the school a great opportunity to learn about agriculture and to learn how to be good stewards of the land,” said Julia Eyer, a student in the Montessori School’s adolescent program. Students would use fresh food from the farm to prepare their lunches, she said.
The Montessori School, currently located across from Grace Episcopal Church on Spring Street, would share the space with Nimbus Arts, another nonprofit that’s struggled to find a permanent home Upvalley.
Nimbus Arts Director Jamie Graff said the group’s days are numbered at their cramped space at the St. Helena Marketplace north of town. The new project would make Nimbus more accessible to the St. Helena community, and allow it to incorporate more content devoted to agriculture and the environment, she said.
Commissioner Cary Shott said she likes the school’s philosophy, but she’s concerned about extending the urban limit line and taking land out of agriculture.
“Your school talks about existing to preserve agriculture, but you’re not preserving it by moving your school there,” she said.
Commissioner Peter McCrea said he shared Shott’s concern, but suggested that the school could convert land elsewhere in the city to agriculture so the project wouldn’t result in a net loss of ag land.
Chair Kay Philippakis pointed out this would be the second time the commission has taken land out of agriculture since last year, when the ag-zoned land on Pratt Avenue was converted for new dorms for the Culinary Institute of America.
She said she’ll support the Montessori School project, but if a third project came along that would eliminate ag land, she wouldn’t vote for it.
With the Montessori School planning to create new toddler and middle school programs, enrollment grow to 180 students, resulting in hundreds of cars using Pope Street on school days.
Unlike the Mercy Housing proposal on Pope Street, the Montessori School project didn’t draw any criticism from neighbors who were concerned about added traffic.
A few commissioners did raise the issue. Philippakis said requiring the use of a school bus would be a reasonable condition of approval.
Montessori School representative Lester Hardy said the school would be served by two wells and an on-site septic system. The inefficient sprinkler system that provides irrigation and frost protection for the existing vineyard would be replaced with a water-efficient system, so the new school wouldn’t use any more water than the vineyard already does, he said.
The school would be built to obtain gold or silver certification under LEED, a set of standards that gauge environmentally friendly “green” building practices.

Here's a little of what I'm talking about:

Our bee friendly, nitrogen rich, cover crop and the next Beekeeping class at Nimbus:

 Last Fall

Mid-Winter

 

Last Week

Also here is the listing for the next Beekeeping -Bee garden class at Nimbus:

Bee Keeping & Garden Design With Special Guest instructor from Connelly Ranch
Instrctors: Rob Keller And Michael Lauher
This class will be the perfect opportunity for both new or established beekeepers, and gardeners! We will prepare you for acquiring bees while learning about bee friendly plants needed to keep your garden and apiary buzzing all year long. We are proud to host Michael Lauher, sustainable gardener from Connolly Ranch in Napa, to share his knowledge with us as we give you hands on experience in developing an amazing on-site bee garden. Students will learn to assemble their own hive, and learn what is involved in successfully managing a bee colony at home. Our instructors will explain the importance of honeybees, and their vital role in our environment.
BEE – 1 Ages Teen/Adult 6 class sessions Thursdays 5:30 – 8:30 pm March 26 – April 30

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