Even though two Lakeland city boards have rejected their preschool plans, Thomas and Madison Brawner say they are pressing on with their proposal to turn the 107-year-old Dean House into a preschool.
Today, The Lakeland Planning & Zoning Board this morning unanimously denied the Brawner’s’ application for a conditional use allowing a school serving up to 70 children ages 2 to 4.
The city planning staff’s main concern with the Brawner’s application was their plan to use a 10-foot residential alley as the route for parents to drop off and pick up their children. The planners also expressed some uncertainties about plans for five on-street parking spaces on Frank Lloyd Wright Way.
Brawner’s faced another setback Oct. 24, when the Lakeland Historic Preservation Board’s Design Review Committee rejected their proposal to place two fire escapes on the western side of the building. That board also rejected a plan to place 10 paved parking places on a currently grass area along the alley near Frank Lloyd Wright Way.
Their plan for fire escapes is less intrusive to the house’s historic nature than the interior alterations that would be needed to meet fire regulations, he said, and noted there were fire escapes when the house was used as housing for Florida Southern College students.
Brawner’s told the reporters today: There will be an Alta Schoolhouse somewhere in Lakeland. “Alta Schoolhouse is bigger than one building,” Madison Brawner said. “We’re coming to Lakeland no matter what.”