Friday, June 8,
2001
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Tyrone planners say no to new Landmark in town By JOHN
THOMPSON
Landmark Christian School will wait until June 21 before it knows whether a proposed new school campus will be built in Tyrone. That's the day the Tyrone Town Council will vote on the proposal, and school officials are hoping for a far different result than occurred last Thursday at the town's Planning Commission meeting. With more than 200 people packing Town Hall, the Planning Commission turned down Landmark's request to rezone a 95-acre tract at Farr Road from residential to office institutional. The emotionally charged meeting had supporters on both sides of the issue breaking into loud applause at times, and Planning Commission Chairman Lyn Redwood had to warn the crowd to keep the meeting orderly. Landmark's Steve Fincher presented the school's case by telling the Planning Commission that Landmark had conducted three public meetings with residents near the property. School officials heard the residents' concerns and had modified their plan by addressing four issues: The school changed traffic plans. Initially, the entrance would line up with East Crestwood Road and the school's traffic would be directed to Farr and Tyrone roads, as well as East Crestwood. The new plan would relocate the entrance toward Dogwood Trail and force all traffic to travel to and from the Dogwood-Farr Road intersection. Residents were concerned about noise and lights for athletic events. The school removed the practice green and one baseball field, and moved football and soccer fields to the farthest point away from the residences. The school moved to protect wetlands and wildlife. The school added a 100-foot buffer around the perimeter of the campus. More than half of the 1,300 parking spaces were eliminated to address residents' concerns. Fincher said Landmark's development schedule is for 15 years, with preschool and elementary grades being the primary focus of the initial building program. Eventually, the school would have preschool through high school with an estimated 1,100 students at the Tyrone campus. But Eric Allen, who represented disgruntled homeowners, told the Planning Commission that Landmark's campus should be closer to Tyrone's town center and not placed in the middle of a residential area. "This doesn't comply with the regional transportation plan," he said. Allen read lengthy excerpts from the plan and said the traffic load would be two to three times greater than that of a public school. "It would destroy the neighborhood by creating an institutional area there," he said. Landmark's Fincher responded by saying the property at Farr Road was given to the school by Chic-Fil-A founder Truett Cathy at no cost and Landmark would be pouring an estimated $30 million into the town's economy. But Town Manager Barry Amos said he was still concerned with the traffic problems the school would create and could not recommend the project until more traffic concerns were addressed. Planning Commission Chairman Redwood agreed with Amos. She said she had asked Landmark more than a year ago to look for another site not in a residential neighborhood. The other commissioners agreed and voted unanimously to recommend denial of Landmark's rezoning request. It now goes to the Tyrone Town Council June 21 at 7:30 p.m. for a final vote.
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