
SOUTH FORSYTH — A local private parochial school is looking to move locations in south Forsyth, though the county’s planning board has aired concerns about the potential new site’s acreage and the character of the surrounding development during its Tuesday work session. St. John Bosco Academy Inc. filed an application to rezone 4 acres from agricultural district, or A1, to single family residential district Res-2 with a conditional use permit, or CUP. The school requested a variance to reduce minimum required parking spaces from 110 to 71. The school would be on Shiloh Road near St. Brendan’s Catholic Community and the south end of Fowler Park. Proposed conditions included creating turn lanes on Shiloh Road and discussions on changing the parking requirements. County planning and development staff was not supportive of the school, which has been operating about five miles to the southeast, moving because of the “intensity of what would be going on the property.” A building about 30,000 square feet large would be home to a maximum of 250 students each day. The St. John Bosco Academy is a hybrid system of education that calls for students in all grades to be both homeschooled and attend classes on campus. Parking is not as big of an issue as with public schools in the county, noted District 5 representative Robert Hoyt, as many of the students and parents carpool. The applicant and planning board are expected to revisit the rezoning request on May 26 for a public hearing before a recommendation is passed to the Board of Commissioners for a scheduled June 18 hearing.