Parents of students at Savannah River Academy, a nonsectarian private school in Grovetown, have been steadfast in their opposition to a decision by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners to pay nearly $100,000 for a turning lane at the campus.
Last October, head of school Maribeth Burns and architect Nick Dickinson applied for a major revision at the school’s location at 213 South Old Belair Rd. The school had developed plans to add two one-story buildings on the property for extra classrooms space, accommodating anticipated growth from 115 to 200 students.
The County Commissioners voted in favor of the revision on Nov. 16, 2021, adding the condition that left and right turn lanes be installed before the issuing of the certificate of occupancy for any new buildings on the property, a condition which the planning staff had not included when it recommended approval of the request.
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In response, Burns and Dickinson applied for another change of conditions, requesting a further update of the revisions approved in November. They included with their request a driveway evaluation and recommendation document, prepared by Augusta-based engineering consulting firm Infrastructure Systems, that indicated that left turn lanes were not warranted, and presented four alternatives to them.
The matter first went before the Board of Commissioners on March 15 of this year.
Commissioner Don Skinner had initially motioned to disapprove this request, commenting that he had visited the school and lauded its accomplishments but that his vote was not about the school but about “traffic and safety.”
Deputy County Manager Matt Schlacter noted that taking advantage of the existing asphalt at the site and install a right-in right out lane, cutting the cost from an approximate $400,000 to $150,000.
This elicited a discussion between the commissioners, Schlacter, Burns and SRA Board of Trustees member Adam Nelson about possible alternatives, and Skinner ultimately amended is motion to table the item to give the school time to work with the county on a less expensive means of addressing the condition, and the board unanimously voted in favor.
The planning department again recommended disapproving the change of conditions, the staff saying it had developed a conceptual layout of the work and estimated the costs to complete the work using county forces and equipment, also worked with the County Attorney to develop the
framework for a funding agreement if the Commission were agreeable.
The county accepted a bid for the turn lane construction from Reeves Construction Company for $71,145.
When the request returned to the commissioners’ agenda on May 3, the board unanimously voted to modify the condition requiring the left and right turn lanes, provided the school pay the county $96,645 to complete work on the lanes, and that “the certificate of occupancy shall be contingent upon the payment to the county and the completion of the work.” The board also voted to enter a contract with Reeves Construction.
Savannah River Academy first opened in 2020, and holds a maximum of 200 students from pre-K through eighth grade. The school is also home to a dyslexia program that serves 25% of the student population.
Louis and Christine Brown have a daughter in fifth grade who is dyslexic and attends the school. The couple notes the difficulty finding schools or tutors that specialize in dyslexia, but worry that the burden of meeting the expense of widening the turn lane will be forwarded to the parents.
“If forced to pay for the road widening, I fear that SRA would be forced to drastically raise tuition, to which many parents that are trying to do the best for our dyslexic children would not be able to keep up with,” said Louis Brown, who retired from the Army this year and decided to remain in the area because of the resources available at the academy for his daughter. “This would ultimately impact SRAs ability to provide this essential service that draws parents to specifically reside in Columbia County.”
Since the board’s decision, several parents and supporters, many of whom attended the commission meetings to speak on the issue, have been vocal about not only the effects of the decision on the school, but on the perceived needlessness of turn lanes.
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Jillian Priebe, who has a son in a sixth grade and a daughter who has just started high school, was one of the first parents to have children attend the school when it opened. Priebe, who lives in North Augusta, drives her son to school in Grovetown each morning. She believes the traffic is not severe enough to warrant any changes to the lanes.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Priebe said. “The fact that the county wants us to pay out of our pockets for something that is not needed. I think it’s taking advantage of the situation we’re in, being a private school where we do rely on our own tuitions and funding, and I just don’t think it’s right in any way.”
The sentiment is echoed by Grovetown resident Kimberly Barton, who has a son in pre-K at the school.
“It would be an unnecessary cost to the school to have to put a turn line turn lane there,” said Barton. “And then it might cause even more chaos even have the turn lane there.”
Columbia County spokesperson Cassidy Harris said the county has chosen not to provide any comments regarding the situation at this time.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
