As Southfield resident Karen Harte looked out her window on Lois Lane one August day, she and her husband saw city employees working on an empty house on her block.
Harte sent her husband outside to ask the workers what was going on.
“They said, ‘Well, we’re getting ready to tear down the house.’ They said they were getting ready to put in a parking lot,” Harte said.
The proposed parking lot belongs to Laurus Academy, a charter school located at 24590 Lahser Road. The academy backs up to Lois Lane.
“Lois Lane basically is a dead-end street, and we’re like a little bit of country in the middle of Southfield,” Harte said.
Harte, who has been living on Lois Lane for 39 years, said the information she obtained from the city employee was the first she heard of the school wanting to build a parking lot.
“I got curious, and I sprung into action,” Harte said.
After attending several school board meetings, Harte found out that the school was planning to give parents access to Lois Lane through the parking lot due to high volumes of traffic on Lahser Road caused by parents picking up their children from school.
“They said they wanted to build a parking lot and expand their building,” Harte said.
Assistant City Engineer Leigh Schultz said the city has little control over charter schools and what they can and cannot do.
When charter schools make plans for expansions, they first need to submit a plan to the Engineering Department. Those plans are reviewed by the city attorney and are then handed over to the City Council, which decides whether to allow a curb cut, according to City Councilman Jeremy Moss.
“The schools don’t have to follow our site planning process and zoning process,” Schultz said. “The curb cuts are the thing we have control over, and they do seem willing to work with us.”
A curb cut is a break in a curb on a road or street allowing traffic entry to a specific location. The city regulates curb cuts for public safety.
“There’s been no official submittal to us yet, but the city made it clear we would not support any curb cut,” Schultz said.
Moss also expressed concern.
“The curb cut would expand the road and increase traffic. It’s just not an option,” Moss said.
Moss compared this situation to that of Bradford Academy, which is a charter school located on Garner Street. The school is bordered by Telegraph Road on one side and a residential neighborhood on the other.
“Our police resources are drained to monitor traffic twice a day,” Moss said. “We would have never put a public school in that location.”
Moss and Schultz both said that if the school does decide to put in the parking lot, they would have to abide by stormwater management regulations, as well.
Harte said she is worried the school doesn’t have the community’s best interests in mind, since it is owned by National Heritage Academies, based in Grand Rapids.
“They have no ties to the community,” Harte said.
“We are working to resolve the parking and traffic issues at the school in an effort to provide the safest environment for our students and parents. At this time, no plans or timelines have been finalized,” said Jennifer Hoff, senior manager of communications for National Heritage Academies in an email.
In 2011, after the Michigan Legislature lifted the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in one community, Southfield was made home to several different charter schools, according to Moss.
In the midst of the economic downturn, Southfield looked like the perfect place to create a charter school, he said. It had lots of empty office space and was looking for ways to generate money.
“We also had numerous parents who didn’t want to send their kids to Detroit Public Schools, and so Southfield makes up two-thirds of Oakland County’s charter schools,” Moss said.
“We’re not trying to single (Laurus Academy) out, but overall, there needs to be stronger local control over what these schools can do,” Moss said.
Laurus Academy officials declined to comment on the subject.
