The Richardson City Council unanimously approved a special permit allowing Masorah High School for Girls to relocate into an existing 23,500‑square‑foot building at 21101 Waterview Parkway, with a council condition that the fence/gate provide at least a 6‑foot opening to allow timely access to a required storm shelter.

Proposal and site: Senior planner Derek Peters said the property is an existing office building in the Lenox Centre office area northwest of Campbell Road and Waterview Parkway and that the building has been home to training and nursing programs; the applicant seeks to occupy the full building for a private girls’ high school with college‑preparatory academics and Judaic studies. The site has two driveways (Waterview and Johnson Boulevard), about 195 existing parking spaces, and abuts the UTD campus and other institutional uses.

Storm shelter and fence question: Schools are required to provide a storm shelter. The applicant proposed a tested prefabricated shelter (800 square feet, roughly 10 feet high) sited near Johnson Boulevard because underground utilities and easements preclude placing the shelter in several other locations staff reviewed. Architect Dale Rhodes and the applicant’s team presented a landscape‑screening plan intended to hide the shelter from view on Johnson Boulevard and said the shelter could be finished in darker materials and surrounded by mature shrubs to reduce visibility.

Council concerns and condition: Several councilmembers expressed concern about the distance students would walk across the site in heavy rain or hail to reach the shelter and about gate size for emergency egress and accessibility. Don Goldstein (school board chair) and Rabbi Barry Kosowski (head of school) said security and student safety are priorities and that the school would work with the city to provide adequate egress; the applicant committed to accommodate additional egress capacity and to adjust gate dimensions if needed. Councilmember Alexander moved to approve the special permit with a condition that the gate provide at least a 6‑foot opening to access the shelter; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Other details: The school expects to start at roughly 60 students and project growth toward 90–120 over time; the ICC‑500 standard for exterior storm shelters—which the applicant cited—permits up to 1,000‑foot travel distance but recommends shorter walk times; the applicant said the proposed shelter location is roughly 214 feet from the building and meets the standard. Staff said if the school later exceeds the shelter’s approved occupancy rating it will need to provide an additional shelter or otherwise comply with code. The applicant also agreed to return with any substantive site amendments.