Lynn family to file suit against KIPP

LYNN – A lawyer representing a Mudge Street family in their quest to remove two portable classroom trailers from KIPP Academy Lynn plans to file suit against the school and the Zoning Board of Appeals this week in an effort to force the city to enforce its own zoning laws.KIPP Academy, a charter school that began leasing space from the Holy Family Church on Bessom Street in 2004, has outgrown its space and installed two portable classrooms in the rear of the lot in August 2007.Abutting residents Brian and Edna Garthwaite contested the installation of the classrooms before the project was approved by the ZBA, claiming that the installation of the two new buildings would leave the church and school with fewer than the required amount of parking spaces.The residents claim that, while the church itself has the required 75 parking spaces, when the school began leasing space from the struggling church and adding new buildings the required number of spaces should have expanded to 110 because it became a mixed-use zone.In an October 2007 letter to the family’s attorney, Swampscott-based William DiMento, Chief Building Inspector Roger Ennis told DiMento that a site plan conducted by Reid Land Surveyors showed the parking capacity was approved in compliance with the city’s mixed-use zoning regulations, and that there are enough on-street spaces to meet the needs of people using and visiting the two facilities.DiMento and several residents were on hand at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Jan. 15 to discuss the issue, but the ZBA eventually upheld its decision.As a result, DiMento plans to file suit against the city and the school next week.”We were hoping they would just pick up and move it knowing that they would eventually lose,” said DiMento. “Now we are going to file this in court next week and we want it moved and the school closed until it is in compliance with zoning regulations.”The Garthwaite family at the time of the Zoning Board meeting was requesting only for the school to move the classrooms into the parking lot, away from their property, to reduce noise and prevent damage to trees that are on their property. The church denied that request.DiMento says the church and the school have plans to use that space to build a newer addition, and do not want to ruin those plans by moving the trailers.”The problem is that they came in, plopped the things down and got arrogant about it,” he said. “They won’t admit it, but the reason they won’t move the classrooms is because they have a plan to build another building. They deny it, but the archdiocese has already approved it.”DiMento also said that over 50 neighbors came out to a neighborhood meeting earlier this year to complain of noise from the school.”My clients are sensitive because they don’t want to ruin the school – it is a good school,” said DiMento. “But we feel that it is in clear violation of the city’s zoning laws. They don’t have the proper permits because once the church leased to the school, it is no longer just a church and the school does not have the required amount of spaces.”DiMento reiterated that if the school had moved the classrooms his clients would not be contesting the ZBA’s decision, but said it was clear that the school was in violation and he looked forward to proving that in court.Calls placed to KIPP late Friday were not returned.