By: Sharon Aron Baron
The City of Coral Springs is hosting a public meeting regarding the potential relocation of the charter school to Betti Stradling Park.
On Thursday, August 3, at 6 p.m., the city will be sharing information and then will take questions and comments from residents.
Details of the proposed Charter School Relocation:
The school has been in its current location on Sample and University since 1999. The new location of the charter school is being proposed on part of a public park north of Wiles Road and east of Coral Springs Drive. The school is owned and operated by the City of Coral Springs and the city holds the charter. The city also owns the land and the building at the existing location. Under one potential arrangement, the city would lease the land in the Betti Stradling parking lot to the Coral Springs charter school.
Proposed plan for charter school to be located in public park
The city currently contracts with Charter Schools USA for the operation of the charter school. CSUSA would continue to operate the school on the city’s behalf as well as serve as the “landlord” for the school. Charter Schools USA would fund and finance the costs of constructing the school building and the parking garage, if required. CSUSA would then lease the building to the Coral Springs Charter School. According to the city, no tax dollars would be utilized to fund the transaction.
According to information that went out to residents within 400 feet of Betti Stradling Park, the city chose the location because of its proximity to playing fields. They are considering conversion of the two softball fields to a soccer/football and track field that would be available to the community when not in use by the school. The contention of the city is that since the city already owns this property, the cost of the overall project is reduced, allowing more dollars to be invested into school operations.
A traffic study is pending at this time.
The meeting will be held at Coral Springs Charter School Auditorium 3205 N. University Drive.
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44 comments
This is an even worse choice than Mullins. With the middle school across the street traffic will be terrible.
Don’t blame Mr. Hage for this scam he is a multi million dollar business man negotiating with dumb and dumber there is only one outcome losing a public park and giving it to a private corporation. Losing public use of the park no problem creating a traffic nightmare no problem backing up local streets no problem using tax payer money and there is tax payer money being used no problem taking away green spaces in the city and replacing it with 2 large buildings no problem don’t be fooled a garage will definitely be part of this land grab no problem no parking garage for cars and busses transporting 2000 students providing parking for teachers, junior and senior students as well as maintenance vehicles still no problem. Parking will be available on wiles road coral springs drive Brookside square parking lot and of course Romberg drive if they get there before the illegally park cars from the middle school. There will be 4 schools in the immediate area no problem. Call you most likely will not get through or receive a call back these six figure salaried employees are spending their time trying to make this happen while being paid with tax payer dollars. You don’t think charter schools USA is paying for their time do you. how about trying to call our politicians no call back either just an email with a childish drawing of the proposed project. Pack the meeting show your discuss with them kill this land grab then when the time comes vote them out. This is every coral springs residents nightmare not just the local homeowners people who reside in the apartments will mostly be affected they have no back yards for their children to play or have their birthday parties.call our local newspaper, call the TV stations and contact the environmentalists. Stop this madness. Take your city back.
Maybe its time to boycott the businesses that the commissioners own, represent, or work for. If they want to take a public park from our citizens and their children that will last long after they are gone there should be a price to pay. Start today call their businesses and let them know why you will no longer use their products or services. Call your friends and neighbors, local papers and TV stations.stop this madness and take your city back
Why would the city be concerned about reducing the cost of the project if no tax dollars are being used and the private corporation is paying. The fields will be available to residents if the fields are not being used by the school. Football Patrice everyday plus games during season. Softball field will be used for practice and games during season. Field and track will using the fields everyday for practice as well as track meets during season . Soccer teams will use the fields everyday for practice plus games. There will be other uses for the school also. Then there is the constant maintenance of the fields that will limit use by others. Of course coral springs tax payers will pick the maintenance costs because the park is a public park (joke). Stop the land grab keep the park you already paid for. Get ready for misinformation, omitted information and just plain lies. This property belongs to the residents of coral springs not the current commission. If it is to be given away for nothing let the residents who own the park vote on it in a referendum and at the same time vote these politicians out of office. This deal is so bad there is the possibility that there may financial gains or other gains for those involved, no one is that stupid I hope. Stop the madness take back your city.
Maybe just maybe if they drop this whole concept( the charter school) our taxes would not be slated to go up by over 20%, from $5.09 to $6.32 per thousand of assessed value, plus of course like every year fire fee’s, and solid waste and if you are unlucky enough to have water from Coral Springs that will be going up also. Oh and then there is another bond, lol., good luck getting that passed. How about the fact that home value’s have soared so all those new home sales are netting the city big bucks. If we are stretched to the limit why not just cut the whole charter school. We haven’t even finished paying off the bond for the building of the charter school, not till 2021 and are going to scrap that and start anew? Maybe the commission needs to do what everyone else does, do more with less. Stop spending money they don’t have, stop asking for bonds and then raising taxes to pay for all that interest. You want money do more with less, hire someone to show you how to do that, best money the city could spend..
Drop the idea. What else would they have to do. Spend time cutting expenses hardly. Stop borrowing money hardly. Paving our streets that haven’t been paved in 30 years hardly. These are the worst group of commissioners I have seen in almost 30 years. No shame no dignity jussst ego and looking for personal gain.
We pay two deputy managers hundreds of thousands almost three times what the average coral springs residents make and are not qualified to be city manager according to our commissioners. Is this another example of wasting tax payer money.
How did this get so far? When your child wants to tear up your driveway to put in a fish pond you say I don’t think its a good idea and that’s the end of it or do you bring in the contractors and architects tear up the driveway install the fish pond then sit bewildered because you have no access to your garage or no place to park your cars. Doe this story ring s bell?
In reply to your comment there are two reasons for the tax increases mismanagement and its just not their money sad but true borrowing money just because money is cheap is like asking a baby if they would like two lollipops instead of one of course they will eat them at the same time. childish ,,mismanagement …over spending they just cannot help themselves but its at taxpayers expense.
Chat Conversation Start
To Cimmisioner Dan Daley-
WED 11:20PM
Betti Stradling will not go without a fight. Neighbors in Coral Springs love the Park, use the Park, kids have grown up playing there for years and years. The views are beautiful, the neighborhoods in the area will not go quietly while you and yours put a school. Increase the quality of education in the schools you have now and you won’t need charter schools. See you in August with people who vote in elections.
His response_ Dan Daley
Hi John, as I mentioned in the Facebook post on the page, Betti Stradling is not my first choice. It’s unfortunate you believe it has to be a “fight.” The commission has asked staff to look into the Betti Stradling area just as we’ve asked them to look into other parts of the city. The review is extremely preliminary. I grew up in Brookside Isle. I’m very well aware of the park and the impact it would have.
As I also mentioned in the public post. Feel free to threaten my next election. Since being elected, I’ve done what I believed to be in the best interest of all 130,000 residents and not what was politically popular. I should point out that city elections are in November and there are none this upcoming August. Thanks again for your input.
As an aside, the Charter School was opened at a time when school overcrowding was a problem and is owned by the City of Coral Springs. The school has been “A” rated for 14 years and there’s a waiting list of 1,200 students to get in. I would love if our local public schools would “increase the quality of education,” but that’s a job for the Broward County School Board who oversees them. We have offered assistance both financially and otherwise to no avail. I suggest you contact your School Board Member. Their elections are in August.
Have a great day.
MY response-
There are zero threats in here, just facts. if you read the City of Coral Springs Facebook site there are exactly ZERO people for this move. Also, you say the City of Coral Springs own the charter school. When did they purchase it from Charter Schools USA?
Charter schools are public schools that receive state tax dollars, but function with their own boards of directors and enjoy substantial independence from state and local regulations.
So if you lived here in Brookside Isle, why would you ever be in favor of this?? Why is this best for Coral Springs? ..this still doesnt make right that taking away a beautiful park to build a parking garage and another school is wrong. How many houses go up in value after a school and garage are built with in eye sight…how is this good for Coral Springs?? Unless someone is profiting, and it wont be the homeowners!!!!!
Build this thing on the corner of coral ridge and wiles, nice empty lot there…unless of course no one can make any money!!
This is a money grab by people who dont give a rats ass about us homeowners, who will have to put up with buses, 2100 students, cars, traffic, garages, noises, kids walking thru our neighborhoods at all hours. Our homes, which we paid good money for, will decrease in value from this disaster of an idea!!!!
This is a very bad guy who thinks he is smarter than everyone else and just a arrogant when you talk to him. Never believe what he tells you he’s been conning people for years. He will tell two sides of the story on any given day, whatever you want to hear then when you turn your back he acts.
Short story. This is what we are dealing with. A few years ago on a weekend afternoon my door bell rings I answer it and there is a man and a woman standing there. The tells me he is a city commissioner and works for an auto repair business up the street and is sort of my neighbor. I thought this was strange never sore him before in the neighborhood. He asks me to vote for the woman in an upcoming election. In the conversation he tells me that he was ve,ry against building a new city hall especially at 28 million dollars. He criticized the mayor for his stand on this issue. Short time later this same guy who works for the auto repair company up the street is now in favor of a new city hall at 28million dollars however its now approaching 40 million dollars and still has his support. He just changed his mind on the issue just because the previous Mayor supported it or may other personal reasons. So never never believe the current administration just hope for the best for our city.
There are no threats here just promises this commissioner has dreams of a much larger political position maybe state wide. However coral springs has a very large voter base that will not forget the damage done to our city.
Maybe its time to go to Mr hage he is a fine gentleman with a good reputation not a self serving politician. If he sees the damage that will be done in taking away the park he just might put some pressure on commissioners to stop the madness. Mr hage has four children and will understand our problem. Lets contract him requesting his help.
Are you kidding? This is a huge windfall for CSUSA….CSCS is one of their top schools with a big waitlist.
John the commissioner told you that he offered broward county financial help was he talking his money or the other commissioners money or was he referring to coral springs tax payer money.
We already pay taxes for the county school system as well as financial support for the charter .what a guy very generous of him. As I said a very bad guy .
Y
Oh by the way broward county has many a rated schools yes many.
Commissioner . Vignola recently stated that he suggested the betty stradling location 4 years ago’. He now wants to take credit for this stupid idea. just goes to show what we are dealing with. He should thank his lucky stars that he works for his father.
If my recent comments seem like they my recent comments are getting personal they mean to be these people must be exposed. Its personal because this idea hurts the residents of coral springs personally I will be posting the business phones numbers of the commissioners where they can be reached very soon.
Please excuse the typo errors thank you
Mayor Campbell, Vice Mayor Daley, Commissioners Vignola, Cimaglia, and Carter,
As a resident of Brookside, I find it terrible that the city is only sending out notices to the residents who live within 400-feet of Betti Stradling Park. This suggests that you want as few people as possible at the meeting to contest (protest) your proposal to move the Charter School there. I don’t believe any of you reside close to the park, but homeowners in all of Brookside (along with parts of North Springs and Kensington) and everyone who uses the park will be negatively impacted. Construction with all of the associated traffic and noise will take several months at best. When completed, the serene green-space that was once a park for everyone to enjoy will be lost to multi-storied buildings and fenced-off for school use only. You say that the park will be available for public use during non-school hours, but look at every school around here and you can see that they all have chain-link fences surrounding them. Traffic is already a problem with Coral Springs Middle School across the street from the proposed site, but it will get many times worse as parents will clog the neighborhoods dropping their kids off so they don’t have to deal with the school’s parking lot. With 2,100 students (approximately 800 of driving age) and a faculty of over 100, how many cars will we have to deal with on a daily basis? Property values will drop significantly as Betti Stradling converts from a park (a benefit by real estate standards), to a school (a negative by those same standards). I am also concerned with having two middle schools across from one another. It would be foolish to assume that there wouldn’t be any rivalry between the two.
The city has many other options. There are well over 40 acres of undeveloped land at the Sportsplex site where there are already ball fields and parking lots. The dog park could easily be relocated to an area slightly north leaving plenty of room for a multi-storied structure with access to the fields across the street. And the best part of that suggestion is that there are NO RESIDENTS affected by additional traffic and noise. I read somewhere that the city didn’t want to use the Sportsplex because they needed the land to use for hurricane debris. To that I suggest that in the event we get a hurricane sometime in the next 10-20 years, we could put the debris in Betti Stradling Park pending it’s removal. (After Hurricane Wilma in 2005, debris was collected at the Whispering Woods Park on Wiles, so there is precedence.) I’m sure the residents of Coral Springs would much rather be inconvenienced for a few weeks with hurricane debris in the park than forever with another school in the neighborhood.
Mullins Park is another good option as there are already large parking lots and many sports fields, although I’m sure residents there would not be too happy with another school in the neighborhood. (The 4.8-acres of land currently owned by the Archdiocese across the street could be purchased or leased and used to build on, allowing use of all of the fields and pool facilities at Mullins.)
Mayor Campbell, Vice Mayor Daley, Commissioners Vignola, Cimaglia, and Carter,
As a resident of Brookside, I find it terrible that the city is only sending out notices to the residents who live within 400-feet of Betti Stradling Park. This suggests that you want as few people as possible at the meeting to contest (protest) your proposal to move the Charter School there. I don’t believe any of you reside close to the park, but homeowners in all of Brookside (along with parts of North Springs and Kensington) and everyone who uses the park will be negatively impacted. Construction with all of the associated traffic and noise will take several months at best. When completed, the serene green-space that was once a park for everyone to enjoy will be lost to multi-storied buildings and fenced-off for school use only. You say that the park will be available for public use during non-school hours, but look at every school around here and you can see that they all have chain-link fences surrounding them. Traffic is already a problem with Coral Springs Middle School across the street from the proposed site, but it will get many times worse as parents will clog the neighborhoods dropping their kids off so they don’t have to deal with the school’s parking lot. With 2,100 students (approximately 800 of driving age) and a faculty of over 100, how many cars will we have to deal with on a daily basis? Property values will drop significantly as Betti Stradling converts from a park (a benefit by real estate standards), to a school (a negative by those same standards). I am also concerned with having two middle schools across from one another. It would be foolish to assume that there wouldn’t be any rivalry between the two.
The city has many other options. There are well over 40 acres of undeveloped land at the Sportsplex site where there are already ball fields and parking lots. The dog park could easily be relocated to an area slightly north leaving plenty of room for a multi-storied structure with access to the fields across the street. And the best part of that suggestion is that there are NO RESIDENTS affected by additional traffic and noise. I read somewhere that the city didn’t want to use the Sportsplex because they needed the land to use for hurricane debris. To that I suggest that in the event we get a hurricane sometime in the next 10-20 years, we could put the debris in Betti Stradling Park pending it’s removal. (After Hurricane Wilma in 2005, debris was collected at the Whispering Woods Park on Wiles, so there is precedence.) I’m sure the residents of Coral Springs would much rather be inconvenienced for a few weeks with hurricane debris in the park than forever with another school in the neighborhood.
Mullins Park is another good option as there are already large parking lots and many sports fields, although I’m sure residents there would not be too happy with another school in the neighborhood. (The 4.8-acres of land currently owned by the Archdiocese across the street could be purchased or leased and used to build on, allowing use of all of the fields and pool facilities at Mullins.)
Please don’t confuse the commissioners with facts and figures . The have displayed their mental limitations in the past what makes you think they have a real understanding of what effect this high price land grab will have on all coral springs residents not just those living within 400feet. Prepare for the you residents don’t understand comments, evasive answers, misinformation, promises that’ll be misleading at best and most like just lies. If they thought that this is a great idea and is great for the citizens of coral springs you know where their heads are. Just for the record all neighborhoods in that area will be affected and all those that travel in that area including the EMS vehicles trying to get to the hospital. even those that have children attending the middle school directly across the street will have a safety problem with added traffic and 2000 students across the street. Just remember when you attend the meeting you can try but you can’t fix stupid.
You must also realize that this a direct attack on our minority neighbors who use this park. Can you call it racists, we really know that.
Its time for the multicultural commission to stand up this move hits low income minorities very hard ,most live in multifamily housing and don’t have back yards for their children to play taking away their public park is cruel . will the members speak up or are they concerned that they will be replaced by their actions.as a matter of fact all minorities should be concerned they are losing something they fought very hard for. Its going to be difficult in view of the makeup of the commission. Call and pack the meeting protect your park.
Does anybody read coral springs talk? Where is the outrage where is the editorial maybe its already time to give up let them steal your park, use your tax dollars to support a large profit making corporation, create horrendous traffic and maybe put 3000students in that area in harms way.
You can write an editorial and they will post it. The softball association should be putting out all kinds of info to their parents to notify them as to what is happening. Interesting if your read the sign for Betty Stradling, it says, with financial assistance from the Florida department of Enviroment and
Protection through the Florida Recreation development assistance program. Hmmm if they received money to build this park maybe there is protection there for it.
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Can anyone tell me why the softball league has changed fields from Betti Stradling to Cypress? Was this at the direction of the City?
They are probably going to use other available fields. In as much as the politicians want to remove these fields maybe they realize that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars building them thousands upon thousands maintaining them that they were never needed.
Flip. A powerful statement, probably true.
Most likely some type of personal gain no one is that stupid, I hope.
These are the same people who want to greatly increase your taxes and fees. Be prepared for another round of increased expenses another round of salary increases and of course the commissioners increasing their own salaries. Start helping yourself by joining the save the park movement its the beginning of controlling give away and increased taxes.
Call commissioner carter 954 695 7653 let her know that you are against moving the charter school to betty stradling park
have your neighbors call, have your friends call, your club members call and anyone who doesn’t want their park taken from them and given to a large corporation
There seems to be some connection between Mr Hage and Dan Daly
If the CS Charter School is moved, what then happens to the building that stands there now? That’s what I’m most concerned about. It seems like the move is a good idea since the students will have a park and athletic field adjacent to the school, rather than being transported all the time – which costs $$ as well. The traffic issue shouldn’t be as bad as it is right now from Sample Road and University Drive, probably better. It seems to me consideration should be given to what’s best for the students. But again, what’s going to happen to the current building, and who might occupy it?
Most people are okay with the school being moved, just not to Betti Stradling Park. As you point out, our kid’s welfare is important and that is one of the major reasons not to destroy this beautiful, serene green-space currently used by many families. The park is home to family concerts and movies-in-the-park, as well as being one of the few places that they can go to kick a ball around and fly kites. There are several other places to move the school that have fields nearby and would not have as big of an impact on the local community. As for the plans for the current location of the charter school, it’s part of the proposed $700 million (yes, you read that right) “revitalization” plan. Any idea where that money will come from??? Another tax increase???
No we are not the city should not. Be in the school business
You seem very unaware of the complete story the traffic is. Only a small part of what is happening here
public meetings are a sham this decision has been probably done in a back room with certain backs scratched… this meeting is nothing more than theater for the general public…
Just got back from the school meeting two face dan didn’t have the courtesy to show up. I told you about this guy
If there are almost 5000 signatures on a petition to save the park how about a friendly lawyer taking up the cause and prepare a recall petition. Lets protect ourselves against anything like this happening again.
How about the charter school pay for transporting its athletes. Is this move about academics or athletics maybe they should give up the. Athletics and save the money to just teach its students. There are many pubic schools providing team sports if the students want to play sports go to the public schools. Phase the school out over six years and everything will be back. To normal
Sorry your right didn’t see him come in late as for Vignola who wanted to take credit for this move I can understand his absence.