WCOM NEWS

5-08-04

Miramar school plan could free community clubhouse

MIRAMAR--A proposal to build a second charter school has rekindled hopes that Bahia homeowners will finally get to use their clubhouse.

The Somerset Neighborhood School has been using the community clubhouse since 1997 as Broward County's first charter school, according to school officials. The school, near Flamingo and Countyline roads, has about 75 students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade.

For years, Bahia homeowners have wanted to reclaim the clubhouse.

Now that officials plan to build a new school across the street, homeowners want their clubhouse back. But instead of turning the clubhouse over to the community, the school plans to run a pre-kindergarten program there.

"When we approved the school [at the clubhouse] we believed it was temporary," said Miramar Mayor Lori Moseley. "My understanding was that if the school built a new facility, the homeowners would get their clubhouse back."

About 10 parents, who showed up at a recent meeting in support of the new school, were shocked to learn about the homeowners' grievances.

"The parents are left in the dark," said Stephanie Williams, whose daughter is a fourth-grader at the school. "Why can't they just give them their clubhouse back? We are getting a new school."

Commissioners said they would not approve the new school, which would accommodate up to 800 students, until a compromise is reached between the residents of Bahia, a 244-townhome subdivision in Vizcaya, and school officials.

"Residents of that community have to give us some assurance that they are comfortable before I will consider it," said Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman.

Juan Romero, president of the Bahia Miramar Homeowners' Association, said residents were led to believe they had the power to decide whether the school would stay in their clubhouse, which is located next to the pool.

After reviewing the school's special warranty deed, the homeowners learned the clubhouse would have to be turned over to the community only if the school was no longer under the supervision of the Broward School Board. Viscaya Miramar Limited Partnership, the community's developer, signed over the title to the clubhouse to the Somerset Academy Charter Schools in September 1999.

"We bought under two major assumptions: that it is our school, not for outsiders, and we had autonomy whether the school stays," Romero said. "But we have no say over that either."

Contrary to what the homeowners were told, the school accepts students from all over South Florida.

Over the past few years, the homeowners have also noted other issues, including traffic to and from the school and the failure by school officials to pay monthly fees. They say the school also used the community's Dumpster and classes have been conducted at the pool.

Marla Devitt, a school administrator, said they want to work with the homeowners group to resolve any problems. They plan to meet.

"Now we have a dialogue open between us and the homeowners association," Devitt said. "As long as we start concentrating on the current school operational issues, then I think we can all move forward."

(source) Sun Sentinel (Lori Sykes) 5-08-04