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By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer
MARIETTA—After their approval of a special land use permit
last October was appealed by opposing neighbors, Cobb County Commissioners held
a revote Sept. 19 and unanimously gave permission for the archdiocese to build
a 1,000-student Catholic school in west Cobb County.
Clearing this hurdle after a year of litigation between the
neighbors and the county, the archdiocese now can build the elementary and
middle school on 40 acres at the intersection of the new West Cobb Loop Road
and Villa Rica Road. The archdiocese plans to move St. Joseph’s School
from its current site at 81 Lacy St. in Marietta to this new location.
Wearing orange tags reading “Vote Yes for Catholic
Education,” approximately 175 people crowded into the standing-room-only
boardroom for the 9 a.m. meeting. People came from various Cobb County
parishes, including Transfiguration, St. Joseph’s, Holy Family and St.
Ann’s, all in Marietta, St. Catherine of Siena in Kennesaw and St. Thomas
the Apostle in Smyrna.
Archdiocesan Secretary for Education Donald Sasso, the
superintendent of schools, Judith Mucheck, the president of Catholic
Construction Services, George Barrie, and priests serving in Cobb County
attended. Seven neighbors with properties in the adjacent subdivision came in
opposition.
“We’re proud of what’s been done and finally we can
move forward in a very positive way to build this school,” Sasso said
after the 4-0 vote. “We’ll be able to bring Catholic education to
west Cobb to help meet the demand for Catholic education in the area. The
school should be a great addition to the community.”
At the meeting, Chairman Bill Byrne recounted for attendees the
history of the debate over SLUP-18. Cobb commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of
the permit last year, but a group of neighbors took the county board and Byrne
personally to court. Their contention was that Commissioner Byrne had a
conflict of interest when he voted in favor of SLUP-18 because of a past
business relationship he had with an attorney who represented the archdiocese.
In a consent order Aug. 14, signed by Superior Court Judge Walter
J. Matthews, the neighbors and the commissioners agreed there were no genuine
issues of material fact in dispute and that the second vote could not be
appealed. The judge said Chairman Byrne, who voluntarily agreed to abstain from
the revote, did not have a conflict of interest when he voted to approve the
permit.
During the revote the archdiocese needed at least a 3-1 majority
in favor of SLUP-18. In the past two weeks the two sides negotiated through
Commissioner Sam Olens and the archdiocese agreed to 29 clarifications and/or
conditions to address neighbors’ concerns.
“I’m elated that it’s the end to a very long
process that has taken place. I think the archdiocese really is attempting to
be a good neighbor to the people impacted and I think the stipulations that
were made offer complete protection to the surrounding neighbors,” Sasso
said.
Each side had about 20 minutes to argue for or against SLUP-18.
The attorney for the archdiocese, John Moore, reviewed the stipulations added.
They include a 100-foot buffer on property boundaries and a 50-foot buffer on
each side of the tributary on the northeast corner of the property.
The archdiocese has agreed that no cell towers will be permitted
on the school property and there will be no outdoor sound systems or lights on
athletic fields. The fields will not be leased to third party users. No part of
the property will be sold for commercial use and classes will begin no earlier
than 8 a.m. Stipulations even include the amount of time an emergency generator
will run each week—a half hour-and where the cooling tower will be placed
and how it will be screened.
“This has been negotiated in minute detail by the Catholic
Church. Having had approval from the beginning and having come back and shown
29 new stipulations is a show of community spirit and we will be good
neighbors,” Moore said.
The archdiocese will be bound by the regulations of the National
Pollution Discharge Elimination System and the Cobb County Sediment and Erosion
Control Ordinance.
The storm water management system has been designed for an
impervious area of approximately 40 percent, approximately twice the required
capacity for the current site plan. The archdiocese agreed to take out a
$350,000 surety bond for three years to ensure its compliance with the
county’s regulations. The bond also covers any damage to neighbors’
property from water runoff or other conditions that would damage their septic
systems.
The archdiocese agreed to install four gauges at specified
locations to measure ground water elevations monthly. Any resident’s claim
against the bond will go to binding arbitration, with neighbors required to
prove the damages were caused by the church’s failure to follow
sedimentation and erosion control or NPDES regulations.
The county’s planning and zoning staff have said the proposed
school is consistent with the land-use plan for west Cobb County and
recommended the zoning be permitted and the county Department of Transportation
also gave the project its approval.
Project engineer Emmy Montanye, of H.D.R./W.L. Jorden & Co.,
reviewed engineering project plans and the county and state requirements for
sediment control. She said the project would generate less water run-off and
impact on area hydrology than what is permitted for the site.
“We have addressed the concerns to the best of our
professional abilities,” Montanye said. “We fully believe that
through smart development and aggressive engineering the school will be an
asset to our community and to the environment.”
Ron Cobb, a St. Joseph’s parishioner and property owner in
Cheatham Hill Farms, a close neighborhood to the site, explained the shift in
his position from opponent to project supporter. He said a developer seeking to
build a subdivision at the site could start work without the public being
notified and neighbors would have no voice in the development. The church has
gone out of its way to address concerns, he said, adding that Cheatham Hill
Farms no longer opposes the project.
Speaking for opponents, Julie Bates said they appreciate the
church’s willingness to negotiate but remain dissatisfied with the
church’s response to their property needs.
“The problems we face are due to the size and intensity of
the proposed school, not that it wouldn’t provide a good education for
children,” she said.
She expressed concern over the adverse effects of water run-off to
septic systems, increased flooding and the financial burden those problems will
put on property owners.
“You have all the hydrology facts from last year’s
meeting ... Those facts show this development to be too intense for this
location,” she told commissioners. “The critical issues that are
necessary to protect our property from potential harm are being addressed in
such a manner as to throw the worry of the financial burden on our
shoulders.”
Diane Quammen, of People Looking After Neighborhoods, said a
school will cause greater traffic congestion than a subdivision. She asked that
the county require financial protection for properties harmed during and after
construction and to not allow further site development than would be permitted
for residential lots.
Interim Commissioner William Buckner, who succeeded Louie Hunter,
last year’s nay vote, gave the project his approval.
“About a year ago I was in another job, happy ... I wish this
cup did not pass my way,” Commissioner Buckner said. “We have met
with the archdiocese and we have met with the homeowners ... I think we have
hammered out what I feel is a good agreement.”
Commissioner Olens wrapped up the meeting.
“I believe with the help of George Barrie and (Emmy)
Montanye, as well as numerous members of the opposition ... as well as numerous
meetings Commissioner Buckner and I had, these are the additional stipulations
that go a long way in making this a much better project for the area,” he
said. “I think both the church as well as the opposition deserve a lot of
credit because both of them went through a lot even to get to these
stipulations to make it a much better scenario for all sides.”
Currently there are over 19,000 Catholic families registered in
Cobb County parishes. They are served by St. Joseph’s School and by Queen
of Angels School in Roswell. St. Joseph’s, which has an enrollment of 475
students and a waiting list for most grades, has outgrown its location and has
no room for expansion. Queen of Angels is also at capacity.
St. Joseph’s principal Laura Riley expressed delight over the
decision.
“I’m really looking forward to the school. It will be
wonderful for our community. We’ll be able to offer the programs which,
because of space considerations, we can’t offer now ...We’re looking
forward to sending our kids to Catholic high schools and other high schools in
the community ... Anything we can do to (better) prepare for that will benefit
the entire community,” she said. “Our main job is to provide
excellent Catholic education. You can’t continue to provide that if you
don’t grow. We’re going to take everything that makes St.
Joseph’s great and move it to the new facility and make it even
better.”
The principal added that good has come from the last year and the
school has become more united in a Catholic Christian way and focused on its
goals. “What has seemed on the surface like a frustrating situation has
been a growth experience for us and for that we thank God.”
Riley said the project doesn’t change the school’s
mission to educate minds and expand hearts. “There is so much already
here. We’re just going to continue to grow to the best of our ability here
and anticipate the opening of the new school.”
Nancy Prochaska, chairwoman of the school’s advisory board,
who has three children at the school, is grateful for the archbishop’s
support of the new Catholic school.
“I’m really grateful to Archbishop John Donoghue for
having the vision to recognize the needs of the children of the Catholic Church
and encouraging and petitioning for this school and the others.”
Barrie thanked commissioners and local Catholics for their ongoing
support. He noted that the archdiocese lost an initial planning commission vote
last September, but then won the October commissioners’ vote, although
nothing in the engineering plans changed. He attributed that to Chairman
Byrne’s negotiations with both sides and to vocal Cobb parishioners who
called, visited and sent e-mails to commissioners.
“We turned in something like 7,000 signatures or petitions
last year ... They got up and fought for it and that’s why we got it and
they need to be given credit for it. If everybody was complacent we would have
lost the vote,” he said. “Last year Bill Byrne saved the day for us
because there was no support 30 days prior to the vote ... When Bill Byrne
stepped down, Sam Olens, vice chair, stepped in to talk to us and negotiate. I
think he deserves credit for facilitating the negotiations. I wish we
didn’t have the whole arbitration clause, but I’d give him credit for
being even-handed in negotiations.”
Barrie also said a parochial school saves money for the county by
educating children outside the public school system and increases local
property values. The majority of stipulations would have been done in any case,
he said, but were placed in the agreement because the opposition “wanted
it in writing.” Other conditions were added only in response to their
concerns. “We tried to be good neighbors so we changed some things.”
Barrie said that if construction of the 145,000-square-foot
facility begins in March 2001 it is projected to be completed in time for an
August opening in 2002. Estimated construction cost is $15 million. The
architect is Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung International, Inc. of Gainesville
and general contractor is Evergreen Construction Co. of Atlanta. The new
elementary school will be named St. Joseph School for kindergarten through
fifth grade and the new middle school for sixth through eighth grade will be
named Our Lady of Good Counsel School.
Riley also stressed the bright side for neighbors. “We only
enhance a neighborhood. Schools traditionally are excellent neighbors and we
fully plan to live up to that reputation,” she said. |
