Though the students will be

out of school, there likely will be a lot of activity at McIntosh High

School this summer.

There are plans to renovate

the school kitchen, start building a new physical education facility and

create more parking spaces, since the new PE facility will be built in

the current student parking lot.

The Peachtree City Planning

Commission approved the conceptual site plan for the PE facility and kitchen

addition 3-1 but excluded the area of the faculty and staff parking area.

The dissenting vote came from Planning Commissioner Bob Buckley, though

the other members expressed their concern as well.

The Board of Education has

already budgeted money for the kitchen renovation and is waiting for the

go-ahead for funding for the PE facility, which they expect to come soon.

If the funds get budgeted, they expect to start construction in June.

The problem for Buckley, though,

was that renovations to the parking lot were not included in the conceptual

site plan. Mike Satterfield, facilities director for the school board,

stated that he would come before the planning commission with those plans

soon.

"This should be a whole

package," said Buckley. "I don't want to approve this site plan

and then four weeks down the line have to approve the parking because

construction will start and something will need to be done about parking."

Satterfield estimated that

McIntosh will lose 25 percent of its parking for the PE facility and another

25 percent for the contractors as they build. To create the 130-140 parking

spaces they will lose, they plan on removing some of the larger islands

in the faculty and staff parking lots and reworking the parking situation.

Satterfield also stated that the front entrance driveway will be moved

to align with the subdivision across the street.

Planning commissioner Ray Green

approved the conceptual site plan but expressed his displeasure with the

landscaping and appearance at the front of the school, stating that it

desperately needs fixing and looks "lousy." Satterfield agreed

to bring the plan of the parking lot and landscaping before the commission.

"McIntosh was built on

32 acres," said Satterfield. "We typically require 50 acres

to build on. Unfortunately, there is no other place to get parking at

the school."

Satterfield estimated that

there are between 1,500 and 1,600 students at McIntosh currently but expects

that number to grow