BEAVERCREEK — Get your fingers moving and ready to create some beautiful music with a piano school that’s getting a new building and location- coming soon.

An application for an Administrative Site Plan Review and Approval (ASRA) was recently approved by Beavercreek City Council recently to allow for the construction of a new building for the Piano Preparatory School on the property located at the corner of Indian Ripple and Grange Hall Road. Their current location is located at 3899 Indian Ripple Road. The new location will provide the much needed space.

The new building is anticipated to be placed on a 1.371 piece of land that is currently vacant and will be constructed by Alt Architecture company out of Beavercreek.

This property is not new to the idea of being a school. Tom Shoup of Beavercreek, who was the father of the owner of the property, indicated that Moses Shoup, who had owned this property 200 years ago as part of a large farm, donated 2.5 acres to the Beavercreek School. In 1867, this property housed the first single room schoolhouse for the Beavercreek School system.

Beavercreek schools sold the property in 1934 and Tom Shoup’s parents purchased the property in 1953 and renovated the small schoolhouse.

“In November 1959, an aircraft from Wright Patterson Air Force Base crashed into the little schoolhouse, destroying it,” Shoup said. “Nothing else has been built there since.”

Shoup’s daughter, the owner of the Piano Preparatory school has always wanted to put a school back onto the property. Her school has already taught over 10,000 musical students through private lessons. The school has been in operation since 2005. The school is geared towards helping children as well as adults.

City council did have concerns regarding additional traffic and the width of the road on Grange Hall, due to increased traffic. It was determined that this location would not be a large volume traffic area.

The proposal was approved with 18 conditions, including but not limited to conditions requiring the builders to install screened areas for trash containers, regulations on signage, maintenance of property, and construction hour restrictions from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

It was passed without objections being raised.

By Danielle Coots

For the News-Current