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.