Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Both agenda items were tabled indefinitely, but Council members intend to examine them at a later date.
Smyrna City Council voted Monday to table indefinitely amendments to the city’s R-15 zoning designation concerning day nurseries, but that didn’t stop citizens from coming forward to speak about the issue. Council voted to table two items pertaining to the daycare language including an amendment that would have clarified the driveway criteria for a daycare in a residentially zoned area. This item passed 6-1 with Ward 6 Council Representative Wade Lnenicka voting in opposition. The second item called for removal of language pertaining to daycares altogether. Council voted unanimously to table this item indefinitely, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come up again. “This was not something that could be decided quickly,” said Ward 2 Council …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Smyrna's Planning and Zoning Board voted 7-0 Monday to amend language concerning daycares in residentially zoned areas.
The debate over a Church Street daycare continues even after a compromise was reached last week between the owners of Oxford Academy and the residents of Flagler Circle. Smyrna’s Planning and Zoning Board voted 7-0 to approve a text amendment concerning day nurseries in the city’s residential zoning designation at its meeting Monday. The amendment will now go before Smyrna City Council for a vote at its meeting Monday, July 16. Before taking a vote, the board heard comments from two camps: residents of Flagler Circle and Church Street who wanted all language concerning day nurseries removed from the R-15 zoning designation and an attorney representing Jimmy and Cindy Smith, the owners’ of Oxford Academy. Ward 1 Representative Matt Wirth …
Friday, July 6, 2012
Language concerning daycares in residential areas is still scheduled for review by the Smyrna Planning and Zoning Board.
After a month-long debate, the two parties involved in the controversy surrounding the expansion of the Oxford family of daycares have reached a compromise, but one Smyrna City Council representative still thinks the city’s zoning language should be reviewed. Jimmy and Cindy Smith, owners of Oxford Academy and Oxford Babies have agreed not to expand their business into a home they own at the corner of Flagler Circle and Church Street, but instead renovate their family home located about a block to the west on Church Street for use as another facility. “The neighbors’ concerns were the building that faced Flagler, a parking lot that faced Flagler and a driveway that went on to Flagler,” Cindy Smith said. “We’ve said that we would not do any…
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Smyrna City Council voted 6-1 to table a public hearing concerning the city's R-15 zoning designation after it was advertised early.
A clerical error put a proposed amendment to the city’s R-15 zoning designation concerning day nurseries on the Smyrna City Council agenda two weeks early. Ward 5 Council Representative Susan Wilkinson proposed the amendment to the zoning designation on behalf of some of the citizens she represents who are concerned the expansion of Oxford Academy will negatively impact their property values and increase traffic on their street. The amendment was discussed by the Smyrna Planning and Zoning Board on June 11, but that body couldn’t reach a conclusion on the matter so it was tabled till the July 9 Planning and Zoning Board meeting. Had Planning and Zoning made a recommendation for Council at that meeting it would have been put on the agenda …
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Residents are finding diverse way to show their opposition to the planned addition to Oxford Academy.
Some residents of Cheney Woods have voiced their concerns about the expansion of Oxford Academy at meetings with city officials and the Facebook group devoted to the cause has 28 supporters. Now neighbors are expressing their opposition with yard signs. "Stop Oxford Academy Expansion" signs line both sides of Flagler Circle and part of Church Street Tuesday. Residents are concerned that Oxford Academy's planned renovation of a rental house on the corner of Flagler Circle and Church Street for use as another daycare facility will negatively impact their property values and increase traffic through their neighborhood. Some also believe the city's ordinance allowing commercial daycares in residentially zoned areas is illegal. But what do you …
Monday, June 25, 2012
The attorney representing residents of Flagler Circle opposed to the expansion of Oxford Academy asserts that the city of Smyrna isn't protecting its residents' Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
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Monday, June 25, 2012
Alan Aycock is the real estate consultant who represents some of the residents of Flagler Circle who are opposed to the expansion of Oxford Academy. He shared this letter that was sent to Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon, Smyrna City Council Representatives and city staff that asserts that the expansion is illegal. City of Smyrna, Georgia 2800 King Street Smyrna, Georgia 30080 RE: Proposed expansion of illegal use at 811 Church Street (Oxford Academy). Dear Mayor, Councilmembers, Mr. Suddreth, Ms. Broyles and Mr. Taylor: As you know, this firm represents Donald and Bonnie Berry of 835 Flagler Circle, Smyrna Georgia with respect to their stated objections to the proposed expansion of the Oxford Academy along Church Street and onto Flagler. …
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Some residents think the expansion of the daycare into their neighborhood will impact property values and increase traffic volume.
Some residents of Flagler Circle in Cheney Woods neighborhood came before Smyrna City Council Monday to express their opposition to the expansion of Oxford Academy, a private daycare facility on Church Street. “To put a daycare on Flagler Circle is not community development it’s residential destruction,” said Becky Roberts. “I’ve never thought of Smyrna as being a place that did not support the residents of its community.” Oxford Academy is owned by former Ward 5 City Council Representative Jimmy Smith and his wife Cindy. The daycare is currently held in two buildings on Church Street, but the Smiths plan to renovate a rental house that they own on the corner of Church and Flagler Circle to serve as the third daycare building. Deborah …
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Smyrna's Planning and Zoning Board voted 5-0 to table an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance regarding daycares in residential areas.
The debate over daycares in residential areas continues after the Smyrna Planning and Zoning Board tabled an amendment that would clarify the city's zoning ordinance until July 9. Planning and Zoning Board members Frank Pologruto and Larry Jones were absent. “I think it’s a victory for us because I was afraid they were going to pass it, but a lot of research needs to be done to really understand the impact of this,” said Don Berry, a resident of Flagler Circle who is opposed to the expansion of Oxford Academy. “So I’m really happy with what happened here tonight.” Berry and some other residents of Cheney Woods and the surrounding neighborhoods are opposed to the proposed expansion of Oxford Academy, a private daycare located on Church …
Friday, June 8, 2012
Some residents voiced an interest in changing the ordinance allowing daycares as a permitted use in residential zones.
Emotions ran high at an informational meeting organized by Smyrna’s Ward 5 City Council Representative Susan Wilkinson about the proposed expansion of Oxford Academy. “We are a residential neighborhood and you have more or less tried to decide that the middle of Church Street is no longer residential," said Sandra McQueen, a Church Street resident. "My property values are going down because of this.” “This is our lives you’re talking about!” shouted Bonnie Berry, a resident of Flagler Circle and one of the organizers of Concerned Citizens of Cheney Woods. “Quit hiding behind your silly rules! This is our lives!” Berry and about 20 other residents of Cheney Woods and the surrounding neighborhoods assembled Thursday at the Aline Wolfe Adult …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Smyrna-Vinings Patch will have coverage from Thursday's informational meeting later.
Good fences make good neighbors, but what about good daycares? That’s the question many residents of Cheney Woods subdivision are asking as Oxford Academy makes plans to expand into a third building. Oxford Academy is a private daycare facility located at 755 Church Street. The school currently has two buildings, but owners Jimmy and Cindy Smith have plans to renovate an adjacent house on a lot that faces Flagler Circle. The Grandmother Exemption The lot located at 805 Flagler Circle is zoned R15, which means it’s a 15,000 square-foot residential lot, however, a caveat sometimes referred to as the “grandmother exemption” allows for childcare in a residential area. Don Berry, who lives at 835 Flagler Circle, said he doesn’t think Oxford …
Jennifer
1:02 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
The people who say those who spoke at the council meeting were not Smyrna or Cheney Woods residents are mistaken. I live within a few hundred yards of the school as does another of the speakers and several others live in Cheney Woods as well. I send my child to the school and we love it. However, I agree that is not the issue. The issue is zoning, and to anyone who has been down church street it … more ›