St. Patrick School will return to the Kent planning commission with more detailed plans for a modular classroom after the panel was equally split on whether the building should be constructed.

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School representatives told the commission that the building would be placed on a vacant portion of the school property, north of a house the school uses for storage. Bridget Susel, community development director, said the school once held classes in the house, until the city's building department prohibited the school from doing so because of limited ingress and egress from the home. 

The modular units are typically used to address a temporary space shortage in a school building. However, this unit would be permanent, with no addition planned to replace the structure, engineer Mike Wohlwend said.

Wohlwend, whose wife is a teacher at the school, said there has been talk of a building project for more than 10 years, but the school never had the funding to make the expansion happen.

"I just don't think the finances are there for a Catholic school right now," he said. 

The commission, which has only four members at the moment, was evenly split on whether to approve the addition, with members Jeffrey Clapper and Nickolas Bellas voting against it, and Amanda Edwards and Michael Bruder voting in favor.

"It's great to see an active and vibrant school in our downtown," Bruder said.

But Clapper said the building would "stick out like a sore thumb" in the neighborhood, noting that the school and nearby church are brick, and the neighborhood has several Victorian-era homes. The unit, he said, does not comply with the most recent comprehensive plan for the city, he said.

"Putting what amounts to a trailer among those Victorian homes, I don't think meets the standards," he said. "I feel this doesn't fit with the character of the area."

Edwards said she would like to see the building blend into the neighborhood better, but said she was confident that steps could be taken to make that happen.

"I think there's things that can be done to make it stand out less," she said.

Wohlwend and contractor John Moosbrugger said the building would have vinyl siding, and a color for the siding has not been selected yet. Susel said the city could not dictate the color, and suggested that staff review a landscaping plan in technical plan review. The city's Architectural Review Board cannot review the plans because the school is just outside the central business district. 

After motions approving and denying the unit failed to gain enough votes to pass, Bellas said he might change his mind if he could see a detailed plan for landscaping.

"It's just really hard to envision at this stage," he said.

Bruder, who is an architect, said he recently did a plan for a modular unit next to a brick structure, and a maroon siding was selected, which "changed the look quite a bit."

Wohlwend agreed to come back with a more detailed plan, but a date for the meeting has not been set.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com or 330-298-1139.