The Buellton City Council has approved a conditional use permit for Hundred Hills School — a private Waldorf-inspired elementary program on city-owned land — overturning a Planning Commission deadlock and capping an emotionally-charged hearing on the five-year school lease.

“This is not just a vote on a parcel of land. It’s a choice about our values, our vision, our legacy,” said Whitney Chanana, co-founder of Hundred Hills School, before the 3-1 vote Thursday night.

“My parents brought me home from Cottage Hospital to my only childhood home in Buellton in 1986. I went to Family School, Janata, Vista and Los Olivos Elementary, and then graduated from Santa Ynez High,” she added.

"The last month has taken something that I’ve poured the past three years of my life into and it’s contort

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