A Clovis Islamic school’s desire to expand will have to wait after the city council declined to act on a permit vote Monday night.

Valley Crescent School wants to build a new two-story building at its location at 547 W. Nees Avenue and relocate a basketball court, with a plan to enroll more than twice as many students (174 now to 414) in the next seven years. The school also plans a two-hour expansion of the school day.

But complaints of noise and traffic from neighbors motivated the city council to table the item for the conditional use permit by a 4-1 vote. The council will eventually vote on the permit, with no date set.

After more than two hours of debate, Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck suggested delaying the vote.

“I would love to see us hold on, continue this CUP, a little more time to allow neighbors and schools to have a conversation. There’s something about the scale of this … that’s the challenge,” Ashbeck said.

Diane Pearce, Drew Bessinger and Matt Basgall joined Ashbeck in the vote to delay. Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua opposed, saying Valley Crescent School complied with everything in the code to apply for its permit.

“I’m one where when we make you jump through hoops … I tend to go, you did your work,” Mouanoutoua said.

The school won initial approval from the Clovis Planning Commission on Jan. 23. An appeal from a neighbor Reed Van Wagenen sent the project to the city council.

Neighbors For, Against Project

Several neighbors spoke at the meeting, for and against. The biggest debate was how much noise more students would cause, and the relocation of a basketball court on the property.

The school conducted sound tests as part of its application, and found it within city code. Adding more students will not increase sound beyond what is allowed.

Neighbors were skeptical, and so were city councilmembers.

“The noise study was only an approximation. It failed to assess the true peak noise levels experienced by neighbors. It’s already intolerable,” Todd Valeri said, reading the concerns of Van Wagenen.

Several complained about traffic piling in front of their homes. There is only one entrance and exit to the drop-off zone in the school’s parking lot.

Supporter Anwar Ibrahim said that traffic problems happen at all schools in the area.

“This is something that if you live in Clovis and you live in our residential areas, you should understand that we have elementary schools all around us. And this is something that we, at least I, have gotten used to over the years,” Ibrahim said.

As for noise, Ibrahim said he found the sound of kids playing, “enjoyable.”

Atif Rana said the school fits into the “Clovis way of life.”

Mouanoutoua said the school should not be blamed for problems that is the city’s doing — particularly traffic patterns.

“This school, sorry neighbors, it’s going to have cars,” Mouanoutoua said. “It is something that is part of life living near a school.”

He also questioned if the same complaints would be raised for a public school.

Regarding the noise issue, Mouanoutoua wants noise readings from inside neighbors’ homes to test truly how loud children playing are.

Several mitigation measures were discussed, including efforts to decrease noise on the basketball court. The school said it would expand the routes its bus uses to pick up and drop off students.

In a modified plan, the school said it would plant large trees around the perimeter of the school. It would also consider expanding parent pickup and drop-off times to alleviate traffic.

School board member Omar Chowdhry spoke in favor. He was disappointed by the vote to delay.

“I am confused, because I’m not sure what they expect to be accomplished by the delay. You know, we met with the neighbors. We came up with ways to compromise and resolve some of their concerns. Yeah, so I’m not sure what the delay or how that would improve or change anything,” he said.

Also at the City Council

The council established a General Plan Advisory Committee, a 15-member community panel to help guide future land use. The city will start taking applications in April, and plans on holding the first meeting in August. A draft general plan is expected by the fall of 2027. All five councilmembers voted in favor.

City Manager Andrew Haussler presented priorities for the upcoming budget, a continuation of last week’s financial forecast. Maintaining public safety was atop the list.

Measure Y, the sales tax measure approved by voters last year, is expected to generate $26 million a year. While the city council can spend the money where it wants, the expectations are to spend on police and fire. The initial plan is to spend 92% on public safety.

“As a department head, we have been operating in a land of scarcity for so long, this is a complete mind shift for us and how do we learn to invest well and set aside well and build for the future,” Haussler said.

The first budget hearing is May 19.