Topic: Deny C of S its zoning variance to occupy the Roswell Rd property (Read 658 times)

SocialTransparency · « **on:** March 26, 2009, 09:08 »

Many of you are aware that the Church of Scientology of Georgia Inc. is attempting to occupy their property on Roswell Rd in Sandy Spring Ga.

This occupancy attempt is being made via a loop hole in a zoning variance. That being, the so called church states its intent is to utilize ONLY 1400 square feet of the 46,000 square foot building as a "Church".

Under the current zoning laws in Sandy Springs Ga, Church of Scientology and its property does meet the requirements for its requested use.

Meaning. X amount of parking spaces DO exist if used for ONLY the 1400 square footage allowed by the zoning law. Meaning for X amount of square footage, X amount of parking space must be available.

What is not being discussed @ this time is what will happen once the so called church gains said variance, then begins to utilize the OTHER 44,600 square feet of office space?

Where will the parking space come from to support this? If C of S is allowed a zoning variance, in the future, the local citizens and the city of Sandy Springs will continually have to revisit this matter.

At the end of the day it boils down to this. A 46,000 Square foot building can not be supported by 83 parking spaces. PERIOD.

This is WHY C of S can not occupy the building now. The property is already under a zoning/parking issue cap. You as activist need to adapt your tactics by utilizing the current zoning laws pertaining to this property. In the public,s eye we can not point out the big bad boogie man that we all know scientology to be.

We need to deny the so called church this zoning variance from a mature community based angle. To approach this from a community impact angle is the way to go. The legal entity representing the C of S can not provide any long term factual information on how C of S will handle growth on the property in question.

Once again and i can not stress this enough. Force their hand here in a public forum. 46,000 square foot building with ONLY 83 parking spaces. THAT is the issue people. THAT is your win. Deny them the variance, then you deny them growth.

Raven · « **Reply #1 on:** March 26, 2009, 15:31 »

Everything said above so well and my input below

This meeting was for the community to look over the plans for the rezoning of the building to allow the co$ to move in.
I'm going to just list out the high points of this. Co$ had their lawyer answer all questions even though they had 3 representatives there.

Protesters were not the only people against rezoning. The notices went out to those that live close to the building they want to move in to. Local residence are very concerned about such a large building with such limited parking being used . The increased traffic is also a concern. It was brought up this organization will have a bookstore inside it and the hours will be 9-9 Monday through Friday for the organization to offer its " services"

A major winning point was when a resident brought up that the cult had thrown a party their a few days before hand and this was against the rules since the zoning had not been changed. Thus the cult was breaking the local laws already. The lawyer did say it could have been a secular meeting. It was pointed out the cult had 3 members there and they could answer what was happening at the building. The lawyer refused to let them answer.

The laywer confirmed that narconon would not move in there, but would not say anything about WISE, Applied Scholastic, etc. He also would not confirm this was a relocation or expansion for the co$.

Over all the lawyer was slip slidy on things and the general public caught on to that. The sci bragged this meetign would be over in about 15 minutes, but it lasted about 45.

Raven · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2009, 23:02 »

Meeting Info up date

Part 1 of the paperwork sci submitted: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
Part 2 of the paperwork sc submitted: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

Unfortunately, some of the copies I was given are very light and hard to read/scan. We did not receive any info about the remodeling to take place inside the building.

The sci that were in attendance at the meeting were:
Fred Love, Deb Danos, and Doug MacKay

mefree · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2009, 23:34 »

Thanks for getting these.

Raven · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2009, 00:05 »

no problem, but shall we do with them?

ethercat · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2009, 21:38 »

I don't have them open in front of me right now, but 2 things in them were particularly interesting to me.

The first is that there is something about the floor being rated for 75 pounds per foot (maybe a square foot?) on the first floor, and the building codes require 100 pounds per foot. I wonder what happens when they get a crowd and their body thetans all together in one place on that floor? Is the floor going to fall through? (Probably not, but it's a possible angle we could work.)

The second is that the document keeps referring to CSI, lol, not Crime Scene Investigation, although that might be appropriate, but Church of Scientology International as the owner (?). I had heard rumors that the buildings were bought and deeded over to the mother church <spit!>, but since the property records show Church of Scientology of Georgia as the owner, I had pretty much dismissed it. I thought maybe there might be some kind of secret deal between the local and head, but now it begins to pique my interest.

Ultrapoet · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2009, 16:06 »

The next meeting is April 23, 2009 at 6:00 PM.

It will be in the Municipal Court, either the side room the previous meeting was in, or, if the crowd is large enough, the courtroom proper.

The sign is supposed to be up by this Friday. I somehow doubt they'll put it up early.

The neighbor ladies are rallying the complex. We'll see how many people we get.

I'm going to try downloading the docs again and see if I can get it to work this time.

Raven · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2009, 16:29 »

I can hand it to you on Saturday if you need me to

Can I post the meeting dates on the front page of the ning?

Ultrapoet · « **Reply #8 on:** April 07, 2009, 19:32 »

They're public meetings. I can't think of any reason you shouldn't mention them.

SocialTransparency · « **Reply #9 on:** April 08, 2009, 10:48 »

Actual application lodged with the City of Sandy Springs Ga by the Church of Scientology of Georgia.

Within the content of these documents pay particular attention to the VARIANCE requested regarding the LOAD BEARING issue with the 1ST floor of the property in question.

The first floor does NOT meet code requirements from a supporting weight to end use angle, hence the current ban of use.

Also, see the EASEMENT AREA shared between the UNITED STATES POST OFFICE and the scientology property as an overflow parking area? C of S of GA claims to have an agreement of use with the UNITED STATES POST OFFICE.

As stated by C of S of Ga media rep, there are 600 ACTIVE church members.

The current available parking for the property in question is 83 spaces. If one was to liberally put 3 church attendee,s into 1 car each, this would add up to 150 cars in need of parking space.

Currently there are 83. Simple math shows the additional need for 67 more parking spaces for just a regular sunday service.

3 questions need to be addressed here.

-------------------------------------------------

1- How will the 1st floor load bearing issue be met and why the need to NOT meet current zoning codes. ( 600 potential people on an under rated sub structure can result in a collapse of said structure).

2- With 600 potential sunday service attendees, where will the additional 67 parking spaces come from? ( UNITED STATES POSTAL and SCIENTOLOGY shared easement area?)

3- The written agreement between the UNITED STATES POST OFFICE and C of S of GA to use USPS parking area as overflow.