Wednesday, September 20, 2000
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Wednesday, September 20, 2000 |
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A first: PTC planners reject rezoning because of school overcrowding As discussed previously, a movement called Education First in Fayette (EFF) is beginning to heat up the debate on making our school system a priority with the county and the various municipal governments within Fayette County. The movement is focusing on obtaining a multi-jurisdictional commitment to not rezone any residential property to a higher density or change another zoning to residential unless it could be proven that the school system could accommodate the additional students without extra means such as trailers and double sessions. First-rate schools attract first-rate citizens and opportunities to our county. Possibly for the first time in Fayette County history, a rezoning was denied based upon the negative impact caused by the additional students created by the proposed development on our already overwhelmed school system. I will provide to you, in their own words, how this subject was addressed at the Sept. 11 Peachtree City Planning Commission meeting. A parcel of land owned by the Katz Family is currently zoned industrial, and the family, along with John Wieland Homes and Pathway Communities, is asking for the land to be rezoned residential. They are seeking to build 350 homes on the property. Of course, because of its [industrial] zoning, the school system has not accounted for students from this property in its projections. In an effort to try to get the Planning Commission to accept the rezoning proposal, Developmental Services Director Jim Williams asked the property owner to donate a 20-acre school site. The speakers quoted below are Phyllis Aguayo (Peachtree City Annexation Task Force member), Jerry Whitaker (Fayette County Schools' director of facilities planning and land acquisition), and Peachtree City Planning Commission members Robert Ames, Richard Schumacher and Wes Saunders. These are selected quotes. To listen to the entire dialogue, you can order a cassette tape at the Peachtree City Hall for a cost of $5. Ms. Aguayo: "Many of us who were on the task force felt that it was probably inappropriate for that [Katz property and other parcels northward] industrial strip to be switched to residential. I would like some assurances that there would be a way for this not to create a domino effect and have the rest of that industrial area coming to us requesting rezoning to residential as well." Mr. Ames: "The way the schools in Peachtree City are and the schools that our children attend are really on the verge of being overcrowded or are overcrowded at this point in time. And as a person who is responsible for the planning of the community, [I] would like to hear from you how the county board of education sees the development of the educational system. Can we make an educated decision tonight to approve this rezoning and not have any schools built for the next five years or ten years? What is the thinking of the board of education at this time and is there money to get some of these schools underway? If a 20-acre school site is given to the county for an elementary school, does that mean that the elementary school won't be funded because the voters don't vote for a SPLOST or some other thing and 20 years from now we will have trailers all over the place with an empty school site?" Mr. Whitaker: "Well, the schools in Peachtree City, except Peachtree City Elementary, are practically at max now. Peachtree City Elementary has a little bit of room but when you put the Line Creek Apartments [under construction] and Cedarcroft [under construction], Wynnmeade and the Katz property proposal in there you've filled up a school just from that the size of Kedron [elementary]. And we don't have that much space. Right now we have a bond issue that is proposed before the community that will build three elementary schools and one was to be built in the Peachtree City area." Mr. Whitaker (continued): "It takes us about two years to build a school so you have got that much time before we would have any relief. If the bond issue did not pass and these [rezonings and developments] went ahead and were built, you are probably looking a double sessions. We are just about out of money for buying trailers. Because when you buy trailers you're adding to the core facilities of a school and you've over taxed those the lunchrooms, the hallways, the restrooms, everything. Once they are overtaxed, we cannot add to those." Mr. Ames: "What about the middle schools and the high schools? Aren't they pretty close?" Mr. Whitaker: "Booth has 13 trailers there right now. And it has maxed core facilities. We are proposing to put 18 new rooms on Booth. We have already allocated the funding for that. McIntosh, we looked at adding on to that but the core facilities at McIntosh just will not take anything else." Mr. Whitaker (continued): "Fayette County High School is at 2,100 students and their core facilities geared them to 1,850. So they are already over their core facility. You could do some redistricting with the high schools to help solve that problem for a short period but once you start building a high school it takes four years to bring that up and have students going into the front door. So you look at the growth that we're looking at in Fayette County over the next four to five years and it's tremendous when you add all the rezonings in the cities and the county together." A motion was made and seconded for the approval of the rezoning and the discussion continued. Mr. Ames: "I have really thought long and hard about this particular rezoning. It's my goal to make sure that we maximize the developments within Peachtree City. And listening, especially to the board of education tonight, and even though our land use plan recognizes this as a residential use, we have lots of other residential uses that are coming on line that the school board really hasn't accounted for yet. And there are more that are empty that will be, that are zoned properly, that will be coming on line." Mr. Ames (continued): "In principal, I am not against this [Katz property] being a residential area. At this point in time, I feel like our city and the county are not ready to service it. So I am reluctant, at this point, to add any density like this to our services and schools, sewers and so forth." Dr. Schumacher: "Although I seconded the motion so that we could discuss it, I share Mr. Ames viewpoint. I am really concerned about every school I see in Fayette County. The multiple trailers, they're really stressed and until we know that the county can begin to fund the schools and that's still up in the air because we do not know if the bond referendum is going to be approved. So I am very hesitant to move on this at this time and just compound our problems. Mr. Saunders: "I do understand, I mean, like lots of folks here, I've got two children in the Fayette County public schools." The rezoning was defeated. However, I believe that the Planning Commission members were under the false impression that if the school bond referendum passes in November that the school system will be at the break-even point with students versus facilities. In reality the school system will still be behind, because new home starts are at a blistering pace in Fayette County. The EFF proposal will allow the school system to plan on "real" numbers and being able to do so will keep us afloat, unlike other school systems. Fayette County has the opportunity to be the lone county in metro Atlanta to avoid the ruin of its school system by having residential development outpace its infrastructure. Steve Brown Steve_ptc@juno.com Peachtree City
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