City Planning Commission Approves Trailers for Berkeley Middle

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Williamsburg Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend City Council approval of a special use permit to install two classroom trailers at Berkeley Middle School next year.

Williamsburg-James City County Schools requested a special use permit for the two double-wide trailers because the enrollment at the school is expected to surpass capacity by 58 students, bringing the total enrollment to an estimated 942 students.

The two trailers will add four classrooms to the middle school to accommodate the extra students. School enrollment is expected to grow to 960 students by 2017, according to WJCC Facilities Manager Alan Robertson’s SUP request. The trailers will be located in the rear of the school, near the baseball diamond.

Staff recommended approval of the SUP request, contingent upon the removal of the trailers in July 2017. Deputy Planning Director Carolyn Murphy also recommended the commission approve the site plan if City Council approves the SUP request.

The commissioners said they recognized the need to approve the request, but were dissatisfied with the timeline. William Kafes suggested a motion to only extend the SUP to 2015, but commissioner Jim Joseph said that if the division has to construct additions or another school to remedy overcrowding, those projects will likely take at least five years.

Planning Commission Chair Elaine McBeth said she’d received several calls from citizens concerned about the return of trailers. “It seems the longer horizon is allowing the schools to not think creatively about solutions,” she said.

Kafes called the request “deja vu, again” and asked when the commission last approved an SUP for trailers at Berkeley. Murphy said similar SUPs were approved in 1995, 2004, 2005 and 2009. Trailers were removed last summer when the last SUP expired, she said.

In November, the James City County Board of Supervisors approved WJCC’s request to add classroom trailers to Hornsby Middle School. The WJCC School Board has not yet decided whether to use trailers, open a fourth middle school, make modifications to existing schools or try spot-redistricting to address projections of overcrowding (read more here). Superintendent Steven Constantino told the JCC Board of Supervisors that although the board hasn’t made a decision, staff needs to get the necessary approvals and permits as a precaution.