The St. Louis County Planning Commission voted to recommend a new private school in South County at its executive session this month.

The commission voted 6-1 at its meeting April 11 to recommend a conditional use permit for Victory Christian Academy to operate a kindergarten through 12th-grade private school at 802 S. Kinswood Lane.

There is currently an existing building on the 3.88 acre site, which VCA purchased from the Missouri Baptist Association in December 2021. The existing building would be brought up to current code, with 13 classrooms divided between the building’s three floors, Project Manager Larry Johnston told the commission during a public hearing on the proposal in March. The school will install a fire suppression sprinkler system and fire warning system, as well as new restrooms and HVAC systems, with upgrades to the building’s electrical systems and increased accessibility throughout.

At the April 10 executive session, planning staff told the commission they recommended approval of the plan with the conditions that a 6-foot privacy fence be constructed along the southern property line as well as a 5-foot fence along Kinswood Lane.

Commissioner Gary Elliot said he was concerned the school had not explicitly stated if there would be a nurse on staff or a nurse’s office in the building. County Planner Mel Wilson said it did not sound like there would be a nurse’s office but that medicine would be dispensed in the administration offices. 

Commissioner Keith Taylor asked if it was possible to make it a condition for the school to have a nurse, to which Planner Jacob Trimble said that was out of the commission’s jurisdiction.

“Typically in front of the commission, it’s sort of the issue of the land use. We would typically leave any sort of the way the school is operated to other regulatory authorities,” Trimble said.

Taylor also expressed concerns about the commission’s liability if it approved the plan with the knowledge that there were no explicit plans from the school for a nurse.

Commissioner Paula Hart countered that it was not the commission’s responsibility.

“We can ask a million questions that we’re not responsible for knowing the answer to,” Hart said.

The commission ultimately voted 6-1 to recommend the plan for approval.