Private school’s traffic stirs debate in Oxford neighborhood

Traffic from a private music school has created a divide between the business owner and some residents of an Oxford neighborhood.

One hour of a recent city council meeting was spent on public statements and questions from council members about the future of Oxford Music Academy. While many neighbors support the school in principle, 22 signed a petition opposing it due to the vehicle traffic it has brought to the residential area.

“We are concerned about the safety issue from the traffic that is generated,” resident Herman Dornbusch said at the meeting.

Jon Sanford bought his house on McKee Avenue in Oxford in 2016 and opened Oxford Music Academy.

The idea for the academy started when Sanford was a graduate student at Miami University, giving private piano lessons.

“I was always asked by parents about their kids who wanted to take violin lessons or voice lessons and if I knew somebody who could teach them,” Sanford said.

When he opened the business, he hired other recent Miami University graduates to host lessons in his house and began teaching larger groups of students at once.

Sanford, who also works as an adjunct professor at Miami and an accompanist for the Miami University Glee Club, said that he first heard the complaints from his neighbors in February, when pictures of cars parked outside his house were sent to Oxford city government.

According to Oxford’s residential code, home businesses aren’t allowed to have more than 10 total clients or two employees. At the time, Oxford Music Academy averaged about 10 students per day and had seven music teachers on staff.

Community Development Director Sam Perry advised Sanford to apply for a conditional use permit, which has exceptions for private schools but not businesses. Neighbors heard about the request and many attended the first public hearing in June to express their opposition.

Traffic was their major concern about Oxford Music Academy. They worried that the narrow neighborhood streets would be taken over by parking and drop-offs for the school. Because McKee Avenue has no parking, they also worried that people who wanted to walk through their own neighborhood would be put at risk by the extra cars.

“We were concerned about the traffic for over a year now but didn’t know about the academy. I just thought he was very successful with his lessons,” one neighbor said.

The number of cars has become the major point of contention and debate. Sanford estimates that the school will have about 50 vehicles per week, or just less than 100 additional cars in the area. The petitioners’ traffic analysis estimated the number of additional car trips would be closer to 120 at the low end and the traffic would be condensed into the minutes between classes.

After meeting with neighbors and the city planning commission, Sanford agreed to limit the staff to two teachers at a time and ask his customers to park in the nearby cul-de-sac instead of the main street. Some neighbors argued that more restrictions were needed, like stricter rules about parking in the neighborhood or longer gap times between classes. Others, though, saw no solution other than moving Oxford Music Academy out of the neighborhood completely.

Amy West Poley has twin boys who have taken piano lessons from Sanford for the past eight years. She said the lessons have only gotten better since Oxford Music Academy opened and started hosting larger groups of students.

“It’s enabled my kids to have lessons with other kids who are interested in music and build a camaraderie with them,” Poley said.

Several neighbors that spoke against the request made it clear that their opposition had nothing to do with the lessons themselves.

“They make it seem like the people in the neighborhood who have reservations aren’t supporting what Jon is doing,” Anita Jones said.


MORE DETAILS

Oxford City Council is expected to vote on the conditional use permit for Oxford Music Academy at its next meeting Tuesday, Aug. 21. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at 118 W. High St.

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