Sandy Springs council rejects Mount Vernon School request to add lights to Ron Hill Field

The Sandy Springs City Council voted Tuesday to deny Mount Vernon School’s request to amend a conditional use permit that would allow installation and use of lights on the school’s Ron Hill athletic field.

The decision followed a three-hour public hearing in which planning staff described proposed conditions for limiting light spillage, restricting hours and imposing noise limits; the school’s representatives argued the lights would improve student safety and provide new athletic opportunities; and dozens of neighbors said lighting would permanently change the character of four adjacent protected neighborhoods.

Planning and zoning manager Michelle McIntosh Ross told the council the school’s application (U-24-3) would amend an earlier permit (U17-001) and that staff’s recommended conditions would, among other things, limit light spillage at adjacent property lines to well below the city standard, require Dark Sky International certification before first use, impose a curfew on lighting and add noise restrictions not currently applied to schools. “The proposed light installation complies with the lighting standards per the city codes,” McIntosh Ross said during her presentation.

Mount Vernon representatives argued the lights are needed for student safety and program growth. Chip Collins, speaking for the school, said the lights would allow later practice hours during hot weather and keep students on campus instead of traveling to off-site fields. “With just 60 extra days a year of practice, the school will be able to add at least two additional girls’ teams,” Collins said, adding that the school proposed multiple mitigation measures including limits on rentals, reduced nights of use and a neighborhood liaison committee.

Head of school Christy Lindstrom and athletic director Brad Deham stressed safety and expanded opportunities for girls’ sports. “Practicing during peak sunlight hours increases the risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke,” Deham said, recounting prior heat-related incidents. A Mount Vernon senior, Henry Stalzer, also testified about lost practice time and travel burdens for teams.

Opponents — including attorneys and neighborhood presidents representing Mount Vernon Woods, Aria West, Gates of Glenridge and other adjacent subdivisions — said the school has coexisted with those neighborhoods because of long-standing limits on night activities. Carl Westmoreland, representing neighborhood groups, traced the prohibition on lights to a 2003 agreement and said the community’s comprehensive plan calls for protecting residential character. “Allowing lights with the extension of hours and noise crosses the line into incompatibility,” Westmoreland said.

Other neighbors described dense tree buffers that have been recently cleared for new practice fields and warned that vegetation removal would reduce sound and light mitigation. Mount Vernon Woods Community Association president Kimberly Oliver said surveys of nearby residents showed overwhelming opposition from the most-impacted neighborhoods.

Council members spent more than an hour questioning staff, the applicant and each other about precedent, enforceability and the practical effects of the proposed conditions. Staff described enforcement steps for lighting and sound complaints, including site measurements, notices of violation and, if necessary, citations with maximum fines and possible court enforcement or injunctive relief.

Council member Jody Rochelle moved to approve the amendment with staff conditions and three additional restrictions (caps on amplified sound nights, limits on Friday-night lights and a prohibition on lights/sound for newly added practice fields). Council member Andy Baumann offered substitute language that carried similar limits (a maximum of 60 nights annually, no more than 10 Friday nights, no amplified sound during practice, a staff member on-site for nighttime events, and posting of conditions). The substitute was accepted and the council called the question.

After the voice vote, the mayor ordered a show of hands; the motion failed. The mayor later noted that a tie would defeat the motion and encouraged both sides to use the next year — during which some deed restrictions remain in effect — to continue negotiations.

Because the council denied the amendment, the school must continue operating under its existing conditional use permit terms. Council members and the school repeatedly said the application may be revisited in the future: the school retains property rights to seek changes, and council members said neighbors and the school should use the intervening time to try to rebuild trust.

The Mount Vernon hearing drew more than 400 written public comments submitted to the city and the Planning Commission recommended denial by a 6–0 vote prior to the council hearing.

What happens next: the denial preserves the status quo on lighting. The school may return with a new application in a future meeting; neighbors and the school also discussed continuing negotiations outside the formal permit process.