A proposed ordinance to regulate school building space within Toledo’s city limits may be an unreasonable intrusion on charter schools, according to an opinion written by city attorney Adam Loukx.

In his memo to city councilmen, the city’s law director said cities have the right to set their own zoning and land-use standards, but only up to a point.

“The proposed ordinance is unprecedented in the extent that it would effectively regulate the interior physical attributes of a structure or building. This type of regulation arguably does not further the purpose of the zoning or planning code,” Mr. Loukx stated in his opinion, which was sent to councilmen late last week.

Mr. Loukx was asked to comment on the proposed legislation, to which several charter schools have already lodged their objections.

The ordinance would require all schools, including charter schools, to comply with the Ohio School Design Manual as a condition of getting a “special-use permit” that is required for school construction.

The manual was created for schools that were being renovated or built under the Ohio School Facilities Commission with taxpayer funds. 

Charter schools receive operating funds from the state but do not have access to funds to build or renovate schools.

Among other things, the special-use permit would require junior and senior high schools to have an athletic field and track, and other schools to have a gymnasium, a cafeteria, an outdoor playground area, a computer lab, a media center, and adequate parking.

The ordinance is in council’s zoning and planning committee.

City Councilman Cecelia Adams, a former member of the Toledo Board of Education, which has lost students and funding to charter schools, said she has taken leadership on the ordinance because of her background.

“It was just a clear matter of trying to have some standardization and a level playing field for any place that calls itself a school,” Ms. Adams said.

She said it was not aimed at any particular school in Toledo.

Ms. Adams said TPS had to comply with the Ohio School Design Manual when it went though its 10-year Building for Success program. The program to build or renovate 40 schools started in 2002 at a cost of $650 million, of which about 77 percent was provided by the state and 23 percent by a TPS levy.

“It had been introduced and there hadn’t been any movement on it, and I took up the banner to see if there was anything that should be done because I came from the education area,” Ms. Adams said.

She said Mr. Loukx’s assessment of the proposed ordinance means that it might not move out of committee.

The legislation was rejected by the staff of the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commission, which said zoning regulations already require adequate parking. The staff surveyed other big cities in Ohio and found that Toledo already regulates school zoning more than any of the others.

In a memo recommending the proposed ordinance not be approved, the plan commission staff said it would encroach on schools’ curriculum, rather than being limited to land-use criteria.

A letter from the Toledo School for the Arts charter school said the ability to create alternative academies would be hampered.

“We would be going back to the ‘one-size-fits-all’ education approach that has already failed for years,” according to that letter, which was signed by two leaders of the school.

A letter from leaders of the Autism Model School said it has received no state money for facilities since the school was authorized in 1998.

“Adding the regulations of the School Design Manual will hinder the innovative and sometimes focused curricular pathways for students in niche learning environments,” the letter from board President Mark Greenblatt and school Director Mary Walters states.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published December 25, 2016, 5:00 a.m.