Woodstock Road Residents Upset with Fellowship Stadium

Many of the residents nearest to Fellowship Christian School are not happy today with the decision made by the Roswell City Council last night to its grounds.

The neighborhoods most directly affected are Devereaux Downs, Barrington Manor, Greenway Hills, Broughton Park and Glenns of Crabapple. Though naysayers were ultimately not favored, among their chief complaints to council during the meeting was traffic, noise and residual light that is expected to come with the new stadium.

Several residents representing those neighborhoods pointed out the problems with noise that would be created from the proposed stadium during football games and marching bands. 

Andy Brown, a resident of Broughton Park whose house is 485 feet from the current FCS football field where the stadium is to be built, said that the noise would disrupt the residents having a peaceful night on their patios while entertaining guests. Brown said he was told by a realtor that no one would buy a house in a neighborhood right next to a school where there is blaring noise and disruption coming from the school's athletic fields.

Other residents, particularly those living in Barrington Manor, pointed out that there is constant noise coming from the FCS baseball and softball fields. Some have complained of balls flying into their yards and the irritating noise of the crack of an aluminum bat. Other residents pointed out that FCS already rents out their baseball and softball fields to to other groups, increasing the amount of noise and disruption to their neighborhoods.

One resident complained to the council that the noise coming from football games, marching bands and other events would disrupt sleep habits.    

Allison Vrolikj, Chairman of the Woodstock Road Neighborhood Coalition, a group of homeowners interested in protecting the neighborhoods along Woodstock Road, told the council that they were able to get at least 204 residents of the neighborhoods directly affected by the proposed lighted stadium, to sign a petition asking that the council deny FCS their application for a football stadium. She also maintained that all of the ones who signed the petition were Roswell residents, while many of those who have kids attending FCS actually live in Cobb or Cherokee County. 

"Back in 2005, we had some of our members check the license plates of the cars in the parking lot belonging to the FCS people, a whole lot of their [cars] were from out of county, either Cobb or Cherokee County. I venture to say that is the case tonight," Vrolikj told the council. 

Vrolikj went on to say that there was overwhelming opposition from those living in the homes bordering the property of FCS. 

"We were all here five years ago when Fellowship Christian was granted their campus but not the stadium. The decision of the council back then was upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court," Vrolikj said.  

Vrolikj told the council that if they keep making "compromise after compromise after compromise," that Fellowship will not stop until they get everything they want. 

Another big problem that greatly concerned those living in the neighborhoods bordered by FCS property was the traffic situation. 

"Fellowship's own study on the traffic situation concluded that the intersection of Highway 92 and Woodstock Road, going northbound, was given a "LOS Level E;" meaning that something needs to be done to fix the problem or the road will fail, so we're just going to add more cars on top of the road? We have to put a stop to it," Vrolikj said.

She also pointed out the flaws in Fellowship Christian's traffic study.

"When they took their study, it was done in the summer. We all know that there is no gridlock on Woodstock Road during the summer. Kids aren't going to school, thy're not doing their school activities, families are taking vacations," Vrolikj said.

Richard Arena also spoke on behalf of the Woodstock Road Neighborhood Coalition, giving an answer to the charge made by Fellowship supporters that nearby Roswell High School and Blessed Trinity Catholic High School both were allowed to build lighted stadiums. 

"Roswell High and Blessed Trinity both sit next to commercial properties. Fellowship Christian does not," Arena said, referring to the fact that FCS sits right in the middle of a residential area and sits closer to the homes than do the campuses of Blessed Trinity and Roswell High. 

Arena also pointed out that though Abdul Amir, the man hired by Fellowship Christian to do the traffic study, predicted that traffic would grow by only a rate of 1 percent, he disagreed.

"That simply doesn't take into account the traffic that passes through from other counties and it also doesn't take into account that the economy may have an upturn. If that happens, it will be higher than 1 percent," Arena said.    

Another huge issue concerning the residents in the neighborhoods bordering FCS was sound.

One resident expressed the difficulty of trying to put her 4-year-old daughter back to sleep after being woken up by loud noises. 

"It takes an hour to get my daughter to go back to sleep. If you'd like to come over and try, be my guest", she told the council.

Currently, Roswell has a sound ordinance that allows for up to 70 decibels from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., but only up to 60 decibels from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. The consultant that FCS hired to do the sound study said that there is a sound system that can control the output of sound decibels, therefore controlling how loud the sound gets. However, some, like Councilman Kent Igleheart, were not convinced that the sound system that FCS would use could comply with the current sound ordinance. 

"Sound decible limiting is not enforceable," Igleheart said, . Council members Nancy Diamond, Betty Price, Becky Wynn and Jerry Orlans voted in favor of the resolution, while Rich Dippolito also voted against.   

As far as the issue of lighting, Randy Hawthorne, President of Techline Sports Lighting of Austin, Texas, the company FCS chose to do their lighting for the stadium, presented to the council three different types of lighting; one of which was a type of lighting that would minimize "spill light" beyond the FCS property line. He told the council that this was the most expensive of the three types of lighting and the type that FCS chose to go with.    

But, Igelheart still wondered why people equated a quality education with having a lighted football stadium. 

"In Dekalb County, none of the high schools have their own stadiums.  You don't have to have your own stadium to be successful," Igleheart told his fellow council members.  

Despite the attempts to assure residents that sounds coming from the proposed stadium would be limited, they remained unconvinced and steadfastly expressed their disapproval. 

Not all in the room were against the proposed stadium. 

In fact, most of the overflow crowd was made up of FCS supporters wearing school shirts. There were several parents of FCS students and student-athletes. Some went before the council expressing their support for the stadium. One lady said she lives near Roswell High School and hears the school noise, but that it doesn't bother her. One man speaking in support of the school said that he welcomes the noise. 

"It's a sign of community", he said.

Another gentleman who signed a petition against the stadium plan back in 2006 told the council that he had changed his mind and was now in favor of it. There were so many people attending the meeting that some had to be kept out of the meeting room and were sent to another location within city hall to view the proceedings.    

"We are thrilled to have an opportunity to move forward and look forward to building some great bridges in our community, and seeing what's going to happen next. We have a lot to do," FCS Head Master Bob Burris said. 

However, Vrolikj was not as elated with the decision. 

"I'm very disappointed that the council members chose a business over a residence. I didn't think that's what Roswell was all about," she said.