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In what is currently a leafy spot in the middle of the St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem, two city agencies and a non-profit plan to build a charter school. It would be the first charter built on public housing land -- a plan Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been working on for months.

Charter schools need space and the housing authority needs cash, so the mayor suggested they're natural partners. The plans are being announced on Wednesday, but local residents say the proposal is already a big topic of conversation.

"I think the proposals got good points and bad points," said St. Nicholas Houses resident Ronald Islar.

"I really don't think it is a good idea. I actually don't think it is enough space -- from the buildings to the school for the kids to enjoy themselves. The tenants are going to lose a lot of open space," said St. Nicholas Houses resident Keisha Wannamaker.

The school building would take up 123,000 square feet and would serve 1,300 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. The school would be part of the acclaimed non-profit, the Harlem Children's Zone, run by Bloomberg supporter Geoffrey Canada. The city would pay 60 percent of the cost. Harlem Children's Zone would pay the rest and become a tenant in the building, which the Department of Education would own.

"I like the fact that obviously co-locations are not on the table. That if you are going to look at a charter school, you are not trying to merge a charter school with a public school. That's caused a lot of rancor and anxiety in this part of the neighborhood," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

If approved, the $100 million school would open next year. Kids in the surrounding projects would get preference in the admissions lottery. One resident whose two children already attend Harlem Children Zone charters is afraid the move will isolate her children.

"I don't think it is okay for children to go to school with K through 12 with the same children that they live with that they live with, that they go to the park with," Wannamaker said.

"I just think we'll be part of the growing of the community, and to me, that's a good thing. And what's better than education?" said St. Nicholas Houses Tenant Association President Wilma Mae Lewis.

If the proposal goes through, it may pave the way for more charter schools to build facilities in public housing projects.