THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120371
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
With a minimum of fuss and no dissent, Calvary Revival Church won permission Tuesday to build a private school on its site on East Little Creek Road. The school could open by the fall of 1996, with 300 students.
The vote by the City Council Tuesday was a contrast to votes involving Calvary in 1993 and 1994. Then, the council approved Calvary's request for a 3,000-seat sanctuary on the same site, and watched as residents opposing the church gathered 14,000 signatures to force a citywide vote on the issue. Rather than hold the referendum, the council overturned the rezoning in early 1994.
Calvary Pastor B. Courtney McBath said Tuesday he was pleased with the outcome. A school was less controversial than a big church, which prompted old opponents to be more agreeable, McBath said.
``We're happy that this part is over,'' McBath said. ``The big part still remains, which is building it.''
The council delayed a vote last month on the proposal for the 10-acre site at 2357 East Little Creek Road as church leaders and civic league leaders discussed the construction of a fence surrounding the school and other details of the plan.
When the council approved the application Tuesday, neighborhood leaders and the church had still not agreed on how an 8-foot privacy fence to surround the school should be built. Neighborhood leaders wanted the wooden fence built with brick columns 20 feet apart, while church officials wanted it built with columns 80 feet apart. To build it with columns 20 feet apart would cost an additional $20,000, said a representative from the firm building the school.
McBath said the church was still looking for a site to build a new sanctuary. He said the church intended to stay in Norfolk, even though so many people opposed the church's last site.
``The people who opposed us don't represent the majority of Norfolk,'' McBath said.
The council approved the school application with little discussion. No one spoke against the application.
Councilman W. Randy Wright, who led opposition to the church last year, voted in favor of the school, but said he regretted that church and neighborhood leaders had not been able to work out all their differences about the construction of the privacy fence.
McBath said he hopes to break ground this fall and ``put kids in next fall.'' In coming years, depending on the success of the first phase, the school could proceed with plans for a second phase that would increase enrollment and grade levels.
The school will have the right to operate kindergarden through ninth grade, although initially only elementary school grades would be included. The maximum number of students would be 700. by CNB