An application to allow the reduction of the number of students in an outlying school came to the Amador County Technical Advisory Committee on Wednesday afternoon.

The Hope Foundation, an extension of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, purchased 480 acres of land on Highway 16, near the western edge of Amador County, in 1956. Between the time of purchase and early 1962, the foundation built a church, a school and a cemetery.

Amador County passed its first zoning ordinance in 1962. Property uses that commenced prior to that date came to be recognized familiarly as "grandfathered in." In formal terminology, such uses are called "existing legal non-conforming."

The Whispering Pines School on the Hope Foundation property has been educating children for 50 years. The number of students in the existing legal non-conforming school has hovered around 75.

In 2001, following extensive negotiations and hearings, the Hope Foundation gained approval of a use permit for a 200-student, K-12 private, religious-affiliated school, to be operated in a new, 10,000 square foot building. The 2001 use permit contained 11 conditions, from entities such as the building department, Amador County Fire Protection District and California Department of Transportation.

Many of the conditions attached to that use permit involved major expenditures. Construction of a 10,000 square foot school building in compliance with modern building codes would run into high costs. Compliance with Amador County Environmental Health requirements for water and wastewater systems would also be quite expensive. Most daunting of all, however, were Caltrans requirements for a left-turn pocket and improvements to the existing access.

The foundation's application for an amendment to an existing use permit seeks to abandon the new building construction project, replacing it with a construction project comprised of additions to the existing classroom structures. The number of students expected to attend has been reduced from 200 to the 75 allowed to attend the existing legal non-conforming school.

At the TAC meeting, AFPD Chief Jim McCart informed the applicants that there are fire codes applicable to large school buildings. "You are over the threshold for sprinkler systems," said McCart, "and fire flow for a building that size is 2,250 gallons per minute."

McCart went on to explain that the fire flow must be maintained for two hours, which would necessitate availability of more than 250,000 gallons of water. Applicant representatives responded that there is a 77,000-gallon tank in place.

Amador County Code Enforcement Officer Linda Van Vleck has been involved in negotiations with the Hope Foundation since the early 1990s. "We had a meeting last year where Hope was informed that they had to bring their school up to code," she later said. "They are soft-spoken, gentle people," she added, "and whenever they've been asked to do something, they've come through. Sometimes money issues crop up."

Reduction of the number of students back to the legal level will obviate the need to make the changes or improvements required by Caltrans in conjunction with the 2001 use permit, greatly lowering project costs.

Also on the Hope Foundation property is the 18-unit Moriah Heights mobile home park, permitted in 1969, as well as two permitted residences.

In the new project, the Hope Foundation plans to add a multi-purpose room/gymnasium and cafeteria to the existing legal non-conforming school facility. Included in the plan is a kitchen, conditions for which were not clearly defined at the meeting.