A step upward for proposed Logos School campus

For the second night in a row, the council chambers at Moscow City Hall was packed. This time it was a standing-room only crowd at the Board of Adjustment meeting Tuesday night for a hearing on the proposed new Logos School on North Mountain View Road.

The board approved a variance so the school could exceed the allowable building height within the Moscow city code’s moderate density, single-family residential zoning district.

The board also approved a conditional use permit for the school and church facility subject to conditions that involve the water and sewer system, roads and a bridge across Paradise Creek.

“I don’t think that the height restriction is a big issue,” said Marshall Comstock, a board member.

The residential zoning district’s maximum allowable roof height is 35 feet and the proposed Logos School’s roof height, which include the roofs of the school, church and gymnasium, would be 46 feet.

Comstock said the 11-foot variance is not a huge deal because the distance from the proposed school to its property lines is considerable.

The development is proposed in three phases.

The first phase includes public roadway improvements and extensions and a roundabout intersection on North Mountain View Road where the road heads due north at the northeast corner of Mountain View Park.

Phase two involves the building of the school and phase three is construction of the gymnasium, church and additional parking lots. Mountain View Road would be widened from Slonaker Drive to the proposed roundabout intersection.

Several people spoke for and against the proposed school. The people opposed expressed concern about the floodplain that the school would be built on, increased traffic in the area and a belief that the structures would obstruct views.

In 2005, St. Mary’s school’s gymnasium in Moscow received a variance approval to exceed its roof height a foot or two above the maximum 35 feet allowed. In 2003, the Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center was approved for a variance with a 48-foot roof.

The Moscow Board of Adjustment tabled the decision on a conditional use permit for the proposed construction of the new Logos School at its last meeting on June 28.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.