Proposed Mt. Bethel Christian Academy master plan delayed

As Mt. Bethel Christian Academy prepares to relocate, the private school has been developing a master plan to build out what has been its high school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road.

On Tuesday, MBCA went before Cobb commissioners to sign off on the proposal, which contain some major changes.

But commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to hold the request (you can read it here) until December following some community opposition.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb said she wanted to conduct a “walk through” of the campus and meet with nearby residents who say they’re already enduring noise issues.

During a zoning hearing, MBCA attorney Kevin Moore said the master plan would add a second traffic access point on Post Oak Tritt and relocate an existing swimming pool and tennis courts from the east side of the property to a central location, near other sports facilities.

That’s part of a larger plan to construct permanent classrooms on the 33-acre site, where MBCA has operated a high school since 2014. The current enrollment in grades 9-12 is around 200, but permanent two-story buildings have been proposed to accommodate future growth and expansion.

The school was started by Mt. Bethel Church in 1998 but became a separate entity in 2021, right before before the church’s departure from the United Methodist Church. Since then, the academy has leased space from the church for Grades K-8 on its grounds on Lower Roswell Road.

But last year, Mt. Bethel Church decided to terminate the school’s lease by 2028, prompting the academy to find new facilities.

MBCA purchased the land on Post Oak Tritt Road, near Holly Springs Road, in 2013 from the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, which operated a day-care campus there. Currently, the maximum approved capacity is for 625 students.

MBCA will be moving middle school grades there, and the continued build-out of the property has brought it back before the county, and with nearby community opposition.

The school had proposed building a sports stadium in 2019 but withdrew the application when some neighbors objected.

Commissioners approved a site plan change in 2022 to allow for athletic fields and as MBCA agreed to create an 85-foot undisturbed buffer between the field and nearby homes. MBCA also agreed to develop a master plan.

That approval came after some neighbors objected to the close proximity of the field to their backyards.

At Tuesday’s zoning hearing, Moore said that MBCA has planted an additional 200 trees in that buffer area, which is adjacent to Alberta Drive north of the school property.

Some responses to MBCA plans have indicated that that the school “has been a bad neighbor,” Moore said. “We don’t think that’s true.”

He said other public high schools in Cobb County are in residential neighborhoods, and “they’ve all thrived, because they have a school in their neighborhood.”

But Alberta Drive resident Gary Hughes responded by saying that “thousands of trees were removed,” and that he and his neighbors have been subject to consistent noise disruptions stemming from the increased sports activities.

With an Olympic-sized swimming pool and tennis courts moving closer to his property line, he fears there may be even more noise.

“We’ve been forced to accept the football field,” Hughes said, adding that “we’re David against Goliath.”

Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association said MBCA hasn’t reapplied for an expired special land-use permit for the modular classrooms, among other issues.

“The applicants believe they can do whatever they want on their property with no consequences,” he said, calling the master plan proposal “nothing more than labeled rectangles on a piece of paper.”

Birrell said that she checked with Cobb code enforcement and learned that only one noise complaint has been issued, in 2013, so new complaints were news to her.

Commissioners will reconsider the matter at their Dec. 17 zoning hearing.