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On May 21, 2019 the city of Hayden held a planning and zoning hearing concerning several amendments from the developer for the Hayden Canyon development in which Hayden Canyon Charter is scheduled to be located. One of the amendments concerned Hayden Canyon Charter directly. This amendment is requesting the City of Hayden to amend the master plan agreement to amend the number of acres which will be donated to the city of Hayden down to 19 acres and increase the number of acres donated to the Institute for Community (IFC) to 14 acres. This 3 acre difference is the land that Hayden Canyon Charter will be located on. If passed, this amendment will allow the land for Hayden Canyon Charter to be donated to the IFC and allow the site work to begin on the land for the opening of Hayden Canyon Charter.

The meeting had over 120 people in attendance, most of which were in opposition to the amendments brought forward by the Hayden Canyon developer. Our board president was given 15 minutes to present evidence to the board concerning why we support the amendment, why our relationship with the IFC is beneficial for our school and the community and that our performance certificate with Lakeland school board specifically mentions that we will be leasing from IFC. Others who spoke in favor included an HCC parent and our own school board member Jennifer Vest.

Those who opposed, for the most part were in opposition to the development being there in the first place and the traffic the development will bring. Brian Wallace, the CFO from the Lakeland School District was the only direct opposition to the amendment to change the donated lands for the school from the city to the Institute for Community. He did not state any reasons for their opposition, only that they had voted to keep the performance certificate as it stands with the expressed belief that the certificate states HCC would receive the donated land, not the IFC and that the planning and zoning commission had all documentation from them.

When the meeting came to an end, the zoning board decided not to deliberate that night, but to schedule the deliberations for June 5, 2019. Their lawyer explained to us that once they make their decision to recommend to approve or deny the amendments, their staff would then have to draft the recommendation and then they would vote on that drafted recommendation at another date. Once they have voted on the recommendation, they will deliver the recommendation to the city of Hayden who will then schedule another hearing which requires 15 days by law. Once that hearing is complete, the city of Hayden will be able to make the final decision to approve or deny the amendments. The city of Hayden can approve or deny each amendment individually and does not have to approve or deny all amendments as a whole.

Until the city of Hayden has approved or denied these amendments, we cannot begin site work or place portables on the site for the opening of the school.