chapin expansion plan rejected by CB8 News

The Chapin School’s application to add three stories to its eight-story building at East End Avenue and 84th Street was denied by Community Board 8.

“Primarily the sense of the board is that they weren’t specific enough regarding their weekend work in terms of duration, and when construction would start and when it would stop,” said CB8 chair Jim Clynes, who took over this year from outgoing chair Nick Viest.

Construction at Chapin, a K-12 all-girls school that is among the most exclusive private schools in the city, would have had to take place over the summer and during non-school hours, a prospect that worried both the board and neighboring residents. In a presentation on the proposal given by Chapin, representatives of the school said construction would last about 39 months and would wrap up by the end of 2018.

Clynes said CB8 members were also concerned about construction snarling traffic in the area and about shadows that the addition would cast into Carl Schurz Park, which is across East End Avenue from the school. In addition, said Clynes, many were uncomfortable with the way the school would look upon being completed.

“A lot of people were concerned about the look of the building,” said Clynes. “It looks like a hodgepodge of different layers of different buildings all stacked on top of each other.”

While the board has no statutory power, the City Charter requires its opinion on applications that would affect the community before the application is heard by a relevant city agency. In this case, because the expansion would require a zoning change, Chapin must bring its application before the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals.

Founded in 1901, the school has been granted several variances since 1987 as its student body and ambitions have expanded. The Chapin School endowment is estimated at $90 million and the endowment per student is approximately $123,626, according to private school comparison website www.PrepReview.com.

It’s unclear if Chapin plans to bring its proposal before the BSA in its current form, or if it will be modified in some way. In a statement, the school said, “Chapin remains committed to engaging with its neighbors and members of Community Board 8 in connection with its application to create a regulation-size gymnasium, expanded music and dance programs, and to increase academic space. The expansion project is vital to meeting the evolving programmatic needs of Chapin’s students and to fulfilling its academic mission. In preparing its plans, the school will carefully consider the comments made by Community Board members and neighbors at the recent public hearing. We look forward to receiving their input and to continuing the dialogue as we move forward with the BSA process.”

Clynes said the board’s decision was an outright denial of the application, and that they school wasn’t asked for any concessions or to go back to the drawing board.

The school had already rankled members of CB8, who told Our Town that a presentation by Chapin at a board meeting in November was more about promoting the school than disseminating any new information about the planned expansion.

Due to the lack of information at the November meeting, a decision on the application was held over to December. Last month, according to Clynes, the school asked CB8 to again push their application back, this time to January.

Chapin’s proposal for added space would include a gym on the glass-encased top floor, locker rooms and performance art space, according to an application filed with the Board of Standards and Appeals. The three additional stories would bring the height of the building to a proposed 186 feet, and no more than a maximum of 210 feet, according to a presentation of the proposal. On the roof would be built a turf playing field. The school has about 750 students but said it would not be seeking to add to its student body with the increase in space.

The school says the new gym is necessary because its existing athletic spaces aren’t large enough to hold games sanctioned by the National Federation of High School Associations.

Cynthia Kramer, who lives in The Chapin House, a residential building on 84th Street across from the school, said she remembers incessant construction during the last expansion in 2006, and does not want a repeat performance.

“It was during the month of August and beginning of September when the girls were coming back to school, it was just around the clock, whatever it takes,” said Kramer of the 2006 construction.

She’s worried about the construction hours, the over three-year duration of the project, and the noise and debris that will come along with the project.

Kramer also isn’t convinced the school doesn’t have plans to increase enrollment. During the last expansion, she said, the school went from 660 students to 750. She said an increase in enrollment would further congest the surrounding streets during drop off and pickup times.

“It becomes an issue when each one of those children is brought to school in a Suburban that double parks and waits for them,” said Kramer. “They’re really trying to put a lot into that space. It’s just beginning to feel like a hundred-year-old lady who keeps wanting a face lift, and they just may have to deal with the space they have.”

Even though the school’s plan was rejected at the community board level, there’s still a chance that the BSA could approve Chapin’s proposal, a worrisome possibility for residents.

“The community board is not a body that can say ‘no,’ they can only present their opinion,” said Kramer. “So this becomes a political issue as to whether there will be any people on the BSA who will listen to us.”