Board hears complaints about proposed high school

Published 11:16 pm Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Following warnings of dangerous intersections, flooding and an increasingly dire economic outlook, the Whitfield County Board of Education was threatened with possible legal action if the board moves ahead with plans to build a new high school next to Prater’s Mill.

More than 100 people crowded into the central office on South Thornton Avenue Tuesday night, some of them voicing their concerns about the proposed $55 million school — and others peacefully listening. Conrad Easley, a Dalton orthopedic surgeon and leader of the Concerned Citizens of the Prater’s Mill Community and Whitfield County, organized and led the dissenters. Chairman Tim Trew told the gathering the board would not answer questions or get into a discussion during the hearing.

“I’m not an elitist, but I am a preservationist,” said Easley, citing his sixth-generation status in Whitfield County. “I’m upset about Prater’s Mill, and angry about the threats to this 1855 mill. The sanctity of the Native American cemetery (nearby) has already been illegally violated.”

After referring to the lease at the mill and its anticipated non-renewal, Easley moved on to the proposed high school site, and what he said are the problems of athletic fields in a flood plain and the probability of flooding causing damage to the mill downstream.

“I have supported every ESPLOST (education special purpose local option sales tax) in Whitfield County, but don’t count on me again,” he said. “This site is not appropriate for a new high school, and just because an eager construction company says it can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.”

Hydrologist Lovick Evans of LCE Engineers said he was contracted by the Prater’s Mill group to look into the site, and believed the property is “difficult for construction.”

“With such a big footprint you need a lot of large, level surface (for a campus),” he said. “There’s steep terrain, and the slopes are 40 percent in some places. If I generated a plan for this site, I would say that half of the earthwork is rock and would have to be hauled off. If I did it for a client, I would recommend they go somewhere else.”

Evans estimated the cost of site preparation at $8 million, and said some of the problems he mentioned were “what your own consultants have given us.”

Joe Yarbrough of Lee Bryant Road near the mill said economic concerns are “unprecedented in several decades,” even more than what he has seen in the carpet industry where he works.

“Your challenge is to face the reality of where we are in the economy,” he said. “Take a deep breath. Things have changed since you first endeavored to build this project. Now is the time to be patient. Let’s be sure we’re doing the right thing.”

Evelyn Defoor, a former substitute bus driver for the school system, expressed her concern about the Crow Road and Highway 2 area, saying that speedy teenage drivers would not be able to see the roof of a bus when topping the hill just before the intersection.

“Think about being a bus driver and feeling the stress of wondering if someone was going to plow into the back of your bus carrying children,” she said.

Attorney Peter Olson, representing the Concerned Citizens, told the board he felt they acted illegally in setting aside funds to help build a sewer treatment plant to serve the proposed school.

“It’s illegal to expend school funds for other things than education,” he said, citing Georgia law. “That includes a sewer plant one mile away. Then you’re left with the septic (issue) again.”

Olson also charged the Georgia Department of Education had acted “in error” in its own site selection criteria by issuing a letter saying the project could continue since none of the school buildings were in a flood zone, which the agency disallows in its “Guide to School Site Selection.”

“According to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), up to 25 percent of flood claims come from areas outside high flood risk zones, that is, flood plains,” he said. “Flood plains are mapped with low fidelity and are notoriously inaccurate.”

After Trew gaveled the meeting to a close with no comment, Olson said the group will consider filing a law suit in Whitfield County Superior Court on the alleged misuse of funds on the sewer issue, and in Fulton County against the state department of education on the site selection criteria — if the board fails to adequately address the issues addressed at the hearing.