Site development plan modification approved for The Excel Center

City officials agreed to move forward plans of a tuition-free non-traditional high school for adults.

The Columbus Plan Commission on Wednesday approved a site development plan major modification for The Excel Center – Bartholomew County to be located at the Roviar Building at 1235 Jackson St.

The request was made by Goodwill Education Initiatives, Inc. (GEI), a non-profit organization formed by Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana, which provides education opportunities for adults and youth.

Board members took two votes on the matter — one on a modification to the zoning ordinance to allow for a reduction in required off-street parking spaces and another on the overall site development plan. Both votes were 8-0.

Goodwill officials sought and were granted a waiver to reduce required off-street parking for the school from the minimum required 96 spaces to 50. Planning staff had recommended approval of the waiver, along with the site development plan with the condition that GEI submit a site plan that includes four bicycle parking spaces, according to the staff report.

The proposed school would be located on the Roviar building’s second floor, more specifically in units 20 and 22 of the building, previously owned by Factory 12 Event Loft.

There’s expected to be a maximum enrollment of 200, city documents show. The proposed school would include eight classrooms and be a total of 12,440 square feet.

The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals granted Goodwill a conditional use approval to allow the school in an area zoned Commercial: Neighborhood (CN) on June 25. At the time. Goodwill said there would be a maximum of seven classrooms, so the expansion would be required to head back to the Board of Zoning Appeals for approval, according to planning staff.

In-person classes would be taught by licensed teachers, Monday through Thursday and on Friday there would be tutoring support. City documents indicate the school would be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day and will be staffed with 15 employees. GEI’s Lakia Osborne told the commission that the average student would take about two classes per day, which last an hour-and-a-half each.

“The point of the school is providing free high-quality high school diplomas for adults with support so that they can access post-secondary opportunities and then hopefully break the cycle of generational poverty,” said Jeff Beck of Columbus-based law firm Beck Rocker, LLC, who is representing Goodwill.

There are 40 Excel locations nationwide and of the 16 in Indiana, about 30% of students use public transportation, Beck said. Also, because class times will vary for different students, GEI representatives wrote to planning staff that “the demand for parking is not consistently ‘high’ but, rather, ebbs and flows during the day meaning that the parking need is lower than expected.”

GEI’s other Indiana locations average about 44 parking spaces reserved for each school, Senior Director of Risk Management & Facilities Jared Rains said, adding that “many of these schools have a much high student rate than what we’re expecting in your own county.”

In terms of who the Excel Center services, 68% have school-aged children, 69% are female and 64% are minority students, Beck told the commission.

The school would offer wraparound supports as well, including free on-site childcare and free transportation assistance. Each student also gets a life coach focused on graduate planning, barrier removal and soft skill building.

Osborne said the child care center would probably average about 15-20 children each day, although they would only be there when their parent is taking classes.

In an application for charter activation in March, GEI officials wrote that 6% of the population over age 18 in Bartholomew County does not have a diploma and the same is the case for nearly 9.5% of the population in the surrounding four counties. Of those aged 18-24 in Brown, Jennings, Decatur and Jackson counties, 20% of them are without a diploma.