Wednesday, November 27, 2002
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Wednesday, November 27, 2002 |
| Brown: 1st
shot fired in rezoning revolution
On Nov. 21, the City Council of Peachtree City unanimously voted to deny a rezoning request, firing what Mayor Steve Brown calls the first shot in a revolution of evaluating rezonings based on the impact on the local school system. "Elected officials and planning commissions must hold themselves accountable for the impact that their rezoning and annexation decision have on the school system," Brown said. "State law mandates that our local school systems be reactionary bodies that are destined to deteriorate under the stresses of rapid growth. Development impacts the future of education. Likewise, a school system in decline will impact our future development." The rezoning applicants had requested that a 125-acre tract be rezoned from GI General Industrial to GC General Commercial and LUR Limited Use Residential to allow for the construction of a small retail center and a 124-lot single-family detached subdivision. This rezoning request was contrary to the city's land use plan, which indicated industrial use for the property. In considering the request, the council utilized an Educational Impact Statement (EIS), developed by Brown, for the first time to evaluate the possible detriment the project could cause to the Fayette County School System. Prior to running for elected office in 2001, Mayor Brown had started a program called Education First in Fayette that called on locally elected officials to examine their jurisdiction's impact on the school system. He also asked that elected officials seek ways to alert the board of education to possible zoning changes far enough in advance to allow a minimal impact on the local schools. Since taking office in 2002, Brown has refined the Education First program to include educational impact statements, designed to give the planning commissioners and council members a clear understanding of how rezonings and annexations affect the school system. Land zoned Office/Institutional, Commercial or Industrial does not account for students in the Board of Education's five-year planning process. By rezoning the land to a residential classification, the schools would have to absorb students they had not previously planned for in the past. According to the EIS for the tract under consideration on Nov. 21, which was completed and provided by the school board, the estimated 123 students that would be generated by the development would attend Peeples Elementary School, Rising Starr Middle School and Starr's Mill High School. An evaluation of all of those facilities' student capacities and enrollment demonstrated that all three schools were over capacity. The statement also estimated a total financial impact of $787,490.20 on the school system and Fayette County taxpayers as a direct result of the project, and noted that additional trailers might be required at each site to accommodate the students. Brown noted that communities throughout metro Atlanta are facing similar challenges as growth crowds classrooms and raises school taxes to build and expand facilities behind the demand for space. "I am not advocating abolishing rezonings and annexations," Brown said, "but I am proposing that we work on building a relationship between city and county elected officials, developers and the school system in a way that promotes quality growth and quality education at the same time." "The city/county government and the developer are only two legs beneath the stool," Brown said. "What we are not realizing is that our local school systems are the third leg and without them we are going to fall over." According to Peachtree City ordinance, the applicant must wait six months before reapplying for a rezoning of the site.
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