Rocklin Planning Commission approves Destiny Christian K-8 school expansion

Despite concerns over traffic and lost commercial taxes, Rocklin officials last month approved the expansion of Destiny Christian K-8 School into a retail building along Highway 65. Destiny is converting a 53,000 square-foot space in Five Star Plaza into classrooms for the adjacent K-8 campus. The church also took over K-12 Capital Christian High School in Rosemont several years ago to become Destiny Christian Academy. After nearly an hour of discussion about traffic and the switch from commerce, the Rocklin Planning Commission voted 4-0 on Dec. 2 to recommend City Council approval. Commissioner Twiana Armstrong was absent. "Destiny has been a committed partner to the city of Rocklin for 35 years. We've worked with the city on a number of projects," said Destiny Executive Pastor Tanner DiBella. The commission ruling allows a school in a commercial zone with a conditional use permit, among other required steps. The commission also added as a condition that Destiny negotiate a fee to offset lost retail tax income to the city, officials said. As proposed, the school would include 14 classrooms with up to 20 students each, maximum enrollment of about 250 grades 4-8 and a teaching kitchen for culinary skills. The facility would feature individual student workstations, cooking appliances, sinks, storage, prep space and demonstration areas with seating for groups. The exterior will include an outdoor play area featuring shade and basketball courts at the rear east side of the building. A concrete masonry sound wall is also planned for a play area next to Highway 65, officials said. The northern plaza parcel is occupied by Scandinavian Designs. The southern parcel features Harbor Freight Tools, the Destiny Community Center, Fitness and Café. The vacant south space was formerly American Furniture Galleries. In 2014, city officials allowed additional uses beyond typical retail. At that time, the Five Star zoning was specifically for "big box" stores while limiting other retail and office uses, staff said. "However, the center never reached full occupancy and remained partially vacant for several years," said Rocklin Planner Arwen Wacht in the report. The city then allowed a broader range, including professional offices, banks, personal services, assembly halls and other non-retail uses to fuel occupancy. City staff answered concerns about school traffic possibly impacting neighbors. Drop-off time on school mornings is at 7:45 a.m. and pickup is at 2:15 p.m., said DiBella. Harbor Freight opens at 9 a.m. and Scandinavian Designs at 10 a.m. "It's really going to boil down how Harbor Freight and Scandinavian Designs get impacted when kids are being dropped off and picked up," said Commission Chair Michael Barron. "While there will be some delays for some of these people leaving, especially at p.m. peak hours, it doesn't seem like it's going to significantly affect the other tenants within the complex," said Rocklin Planner Nate Anderson. "Because the school has much less parking needs, there will probably be more parking available to Scandinavian Designs than if developed for retail use." There was also considerable discussion about how Rocklin and other cities are forced to punt tax income to fill vacant commercial space. For example, California cities are increasingly mandated by the state to rezone commercial space for housing. Staff calculated that Rocklin would lose roughly $122,000 in tax money with the conversion. The number is, however, based on a best-case scenario, or a very popular big-box store. Officials added that other currently allowable uses would already be more or less "zero income" for city coffers. "The evolution of this as a retail center – it's evolving the other way," said Barron. As part of the approval, the commission recommended to the City Council that Destiny and the city negotiate a reasonable fee to offset commercial tax losses. DiBella said Destiny is agreeable, or wide open, for negotiation on the matter.