Controversy Over Building New School In Monroe County

A Monroe County man wants to build a new school but he is facing opposition from the county and his neighbors.

Bobby Duffy works for Clayton County public schools. He owns six acres of land off Anderson Road in Monroe County and wants to build a school on his property to enhance the local school system. However, his land is zoned for residential use, not agricultural.

“When I submitted the proposal I thought it was a simple matter of converting it back to agricultural since that’s what majority of the land around here is zoned,” Duffy said.

Duffy’s request to rezone his property did not pass at first. Only one Monroe County commissioner approved it and now he is appealing.

Duffy is not only having issues with the county. His neighbors argue they don’t want a school in their backyard.

“We’ve got a nice, quiet urban community out here,” John Smith said. “It’s peaceful, there’s little to no traffic in this area and this school is going to bring a lot of congestion out here.”

Duffy says he’s aware of his neighbor’s concerns but argues the school won’t cause any problems. Only 50 students would be enrolled at a time. All the traffic would come from Boxankle Road which Duffy says is far away from his neighbors’ homes.

Duffy believes Monroe County needs a school like this one.

“I want to make education fun to learn and by being fun they’ll be able to learn more, they’ll be self motivated and they’ll take off like a rocket,” Duffy said.

But his neighbors think he needs to build the school somewhere else.

“I admire anybody that wants to help the kids in Monroe County but where he’s wanting to do it is just not the right place to do it,” Smith said.

Duffy and his neighbors will have the chance to voice their concerns during the Monroe County Board of Commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday night.

If the board approves the rezoning, Duffy can then start the process of building the school.