Pasadena Star-News, CA
July 11 2009

Year-old Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School may close; operating
without a permit

By Robert S. Hong, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/10/2009 08:34:11 PM PDT

ALTADENA – Students at the year-old Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian
School at 183 E. Palm St. may be headed back to their old location on
Maiden Lane in the fall.

The Superior Court has granted the county permission to close the Palm
Street school, at least temporarily, because county officials said it
has been operating for the past year without a conditional use
permit. A CUP is required for any school to operate in a residential
zone.

But school officials say no law was broken.

They contend that, because they are a religious school, they were
operating lawfully under a federal religious land use permit, school
Principal Shahe Garabedian said.

"We’re not violating anything, we just operated under the federal
law," Garabedian said. "We came to an agreement (with the county) that
we’ll vacate the premises until we process the CUP."

Deputy County Counsel Dusan Pavlovic said the school opened in
September last year "without going through the full process"
required. "Thereafter, the County Department of Regional Planning
tried to persuade the school to cease operating, but they failed to do
so," Pavlovic said.

In the meantime, school officials said they have appealed the
injunction. The court has given them permission to keep the Palm
Street campus open until a decision is made on the injunction’s merits
in coming weeks.

School officials said regardless of the outcome, students will have a
place to go next year at the Maiden Lane school, where they have been
for several years.
The new elementary school, which was previously a group home for young
children, now has about 240 students, Pavlovic said.

Many of the school’s neighbors had complained that noise and traffic
caused a nuisance when they were trying to get in and out of driveways
or drive down the street.

"I think a lot of neighbors were not happy with (traffic) in the
morning," said Eve Liu, who lives near the school.

Garabedian said problems with traffic were overstated.

He said county fire and sheriff’s department officials inspected the
traffic issue and no violations were reported.

Neighbor William Middleton said he would be content with whatever the
court decides.

"It may not be as bad as some say, but it’s been bad," Middleton
said. "I just don’t know whether that facility is the right facility"
for the neighborhood.

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