How should neighbors treat one another?

As a Freedom Academy neighbor and resident in the community, I have always been in favor of a school on the current lot.  However, I was disappointed that no one in the neighborhood was involved in the initial planning and development of the project and we have suffered because of the lack of preliminary planning. 

I am someone that had to change my entire work schedule because the traffic is unbearable. I am someone that has had to tell Freedom Academy students to get out of my yard. I am someone that has yelled at Freedom Academy students, waiting unsupervised for their parents in the local church parking lot, to stop throwing rocks at my house.  I am someone that has confronted kids for kicking holes in the fence my neighbor paid thousands of dollars for.  I am the victim of things being stolen from my yard by Freedom Academy kids.  I AM NOT BLAMING THE KIDS.  Kids are kids and will do childish things regardless of their age or the school they attend.

I am blaming the school that wasn’t held to the same standards that traditional city and commercial buildings are held to. I am blaming the school that told me I was lying about the problems in my backyard, because they had already told the parents not to pick up kids at the church. I am blaming the school that wasn’t considerate enough to conduct a proper traffic impact study before they built such an invasive (albeit beautiful) structure.  I'm blaming the school for not actively communicating their development plans with the community.  I am blaming the school because the primary plan to deal with the congestion seems to be allowing students to loiter on the neighbors' property until the traffic has sufficiently calmed down.  This is not how business should be conducted.

I own a house in northeast Provo. An apartment complex was proposed to be built directly across the street from my home. Before they went ahead with the building, a meeting was held with all the neighbors, building plans were presented and the congestion impact was discussed. After concerns were expressed, the builders adjusted the plans to better account for the increase in traffic and the decrease in parking.  Another neighborhood meeting was held and the adjusted plans were presented.  The altered proposal was not perfect, but still approved by the community.  Later, when funding was unavailable for the apartments, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the property, had similar meetings with the neighbors and made similar modifications to the design before they began construction.

When my company wanted to expand, community meetings were initiated by us to discuss the new building. Although we had every right to construct according to the plans we presented, we eliminated an entire floor of the proposed structure not because it was going to drastically alter the lives of the neighbors, but because they were concerned about how it might obstruct their view.

This is how business needs to be conducted. This is why our city and community is not a horrible place to live, because thought, consideration and planning go into its development. Freedom Academy has not conducted itself openly and our community is suffering because of it.

Additional drivers at all, teenager or parent, in an already overly congested area is a significant problem to me. A school that acts with limited regard and concern for anyone else, including the parents of its students, is a problem for me. The absolute abuse of power by people not affected by any of the negative consequences of their decisions is a problem for me. A complete and total neglect to keep neighbors informed is a problem to me.

Truly, it is silly to assume that the current location can sustain the student growth they are anticipating without having a devastating effect on our neighborhood. Trying to fit two schools, a play area, more parking and over 1100 students and faculty on a lot that is considerably smaller than all the nearby schools (even when you include a virtually unusable hill and exclude city parks near other schools) is ludicrous.  Most of these schools cater to significantly less people, are designed to manage the traffic, and still create mild congestion problems in their respective neighborhoods.

I urge Freedom Academy to consider other people as they make their decisions. Repercussions of construction should be appropriately analyzed before rash choices are made. If a suitable solution to the current and future traffic problem can be found, I will reconsider my position, but as currently organized, it would be selfish and inappropriate to go forward with construction. The destruction of a neighborhood is too high of a cost when so many more options are available.

~ Geoff Nielsen