If you’ve been wondering — as we have — why signs regarding a zoning change have been hanging on the fence at Episcopal School of Dallas, you got your answer in the Metro section of the Feb. 24 Dallas Morning News. As David Flick reports, ESD wants to build a new lower school on a 7.6-acre plot south of its Midway Road campus that is currently occupied by single-family houses. That would allow ESD’s youngest students to leave their facility at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church near Preston Center and be at the same location as all of their older schoolmates.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, some people who live near ESD are not happy about this proposal. Their NIMBY (Not In My Backyard, for the uninitiated) concerns about increased traffic echo those voiced by neighbors of the Alcuin School, where officials are proposing the opposite change: adding high school sophomores, junior, and seniors to a campus that has traditionally served only youngsters.
Today, the Alcuin School’s proposed changes were approved by the Plan Commission. They move on to the full council, so the battle of schools vs. neighbors is far from over.
Look, you can’t live anywhere in Dallas and complain about the traffic. In this day and age, it’s just not realistic. If you want to live someplace where traffic isn’t a problem, move to Frisco. … Wait, scratch that. Move to Prosper. … Oh, Prosper’s getting crowded? Aw, heck, just build a home on Lake Texoma. We rarely hear anything about Texoma from the traffic reporters on the radio.
Here’s a suggestion for people living near these two schools: Why don’t you just look on the bright side and revel in the fact that you own a home within walking distance of an acclaimed campus that your children could attend from kindergarten through their senior year? And if that doesn’t suit your current stage in life, why don’t you find a smart Realtor who can sell your house to a young couple with 2.5 private-school students on the way?
