Sandy Springs private school gets to stay open with conditions

A religious elementary and middle school in Sandy Springs that has been operating for several years without proper zoning approval at 5180 Roswell Road received a conditional use permit to remain in operations.

City Council approved the conditional use permit for Chaya Mushka Children’s House at its June 21 meeting.

Chaya Mushka Children’s House must install a buffer wall at the back (west) side of the property, move its dumpster outside at least 100 feet away from the protected neighborhood behind it, and bring the office building up to fire and building codes as required for schools.

Troy Schulman, who lives on Silverwood Road behind the school property, shared some concerns of the neighbors including children walking through the buffer area, noise and an overgrown detention area. The school occupies one of the three office buildings in that development, and the neighbors fear the school could triple in size.

“We’re concerned moving forward that those two buildings can be purchased, and the school can become larger,” Schulman said via Zoom. “We just want a little reassurance that will not happen. As neighbors, we don’t want 450 students back there.”

Jonathan Edwards, who represented the school at the hearing, said staff conditions address many of the neighbors’ concerns.

“The school does not have any plans to expand to the other buildings. We’ve said that before and that is the case today,” he said.