The American Hebrew Academy property is properly zoned to house an Influx Care Facility to house unaccompanied children who entered the country illegally, according to the Greensboro planning department.

A letter dated Feb. 22, 2022, from Greensboro Zoning Administrator Mike Kirkman to American Hebrew Academy Associate Director Qinghua Zhao, states that the Influx Care Facility for the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services will be classified as an educational facility, which meets the zoning conditions for the property.

In the letter to Zhao, Kirkman states, “Based on information previously provided to the City it is my understanding you intend to operate an elementary and/or secondary school at this location for relocation of children under a contract with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the place of the former American Hebrew Academy. This would be allowed at this location based on the following.

“Elementary and secondary school fall within the broader Educational Facilities Use Group under the LDO [Land Development Ordinance].”

The letter continues to list the setback, parking and vehicular access requirements under this proposed educational facilities use.

The American Hebrew Academy property is currently zoned Conditional District-Residential-3 and educational facilities are allowed in the R-3 zoning district.

It was recently reported that the plans to turn the American Hebrew Academy into an Influx Care Facility by the Office of Refugee Resettlement had been placed on hold while the contracts to operate the facility are worked out.

Prior to the hold being placed on the proposed facility, The Floridian reported that two companies, Deployed Resources and Deployed Services, which are owned by the same person, had received contracts to do what appeared to be some of the same work.

It has been difficult to get accurate information about what exactly the Office of Refugee Resettlement plans to do with the site of the former private boarding school.

In July, North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, along with members of Congress Ted Budd, Virginia Foxx, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry, Gregory Murphy and David Rouzer, sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra requesting specific information about the proposed facility.