Possible Islamic school raises traffic concerns

 While the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton has applied to Sarasota County to open a full-time school at its site on Lockwood Ridge Road, some local residents are concerned about the traffic impact.

The Society applied to Sarasota County in December for a special exception to open a private elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade. It anticipates having about 135 students and after two or three years as the school grows, the Society plans to build a structure for a middle school.

School curriculum would include all the secular subjects, with religious and Arabic classes added. The Society is working to form a school board.

Local residents who attended a neighborhood meeting about the proposal Feb. 9 didn’t oppose the school, but many of the 40-some attendees expressed concern over the school’s impact on traffic.

Lockwood Ridge Road serves as a commuting corridor between University Parkway and Fruitville Road. Multiple residents of Beekman Place subdivision, which has approximately 500 homes, just north of the house of worship, said turning left out of their neighborhood is difficult.

The school would keep typical hours, with students arriving around 8:30 a.m. and leaving around 3 or 4 p.m. The only alteration would be Friday afternoons. Friday is a special day of prayer in the Islamic religion, so school would be let out early.

Hytham Bakr, the chairman of the board of trustees for the Society, said he didn’t think the school would have a large impact on the traffic issues on Lockwood Ridge Road. He referenced Southside Elementary School on U.S. 41 in Sarasota. The school houses about 600 students, and crossing guards stop traffic every morning and afternoon to let children cross safely.

“The one on (U.S.) 41 is a busier, bigger school,” he said. “If you can have that on 41, I don’t think it will be an issue to have a school on Lockwood Ridge.”

Joel Freedman with Freedman Consulting Group, the agent for the Islamic Society, explained to neighbors a traffic study would have to be submitted with the formal application to the county. Part of the study would be examining traffic patterns in the morning during peak hours, when students would be getting dropped off at school.

Ferd Thompson, who lives in the Beekman neighborhood, was more worried about parents leaving the potential school trying to make a left turn. Thompson is concerned parent drop-off will get backed up onto Lockwood Ridge Road, and he was most worried about someone getting hurt trying to make that left turn.

“I’ve got no problem with the school,” he said. “I’m concerned about the safety. I don’t want to see any accidents.”

The Society’s original application stated the school would house about 260 students, however at that time it was considering a high school. Freedman said the Society decided against considering a high school because the demand does not exist.

When the Islamic community in Sarasota first began meeting in 1996, it was a small group of about 25 families.

Now, more than 300 families belong to the congregation and 90 children are enrolled in the weekly Sunday school.