Neighborhood protection efforts reigned supreme at the Sept. 15 Sandy Springs City Council meeting, with Mayor Rusty Paul casting the tie-breaking vote to deny Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School a special event permit for a “Friday Night Lights” homecoming game.
After a public hearing to consider the Mount Vernon Highway private school’s appeal of city staff’s decision to deny the permit, council members split the vote 3-3. Council members Andrew Chinsky, Mary Ford, and John Paulson supported the one-night-only use of field lighting for the Oct. 2 homecoming game. Council members Frank Roberts, Melissa Mular, and Melody Kelley voted against the permit, which sent the decision to Paul.
It’s the second consecutive year that the private school in southwest Sandy Springs has appealed the community development director and city manager’s decision to deny its special event permit. Last year, the permit was approved, and Holy Innocents’ held a nighttime game on campus under the lights for the first time in school history.
Denial on thin margin
Paul offered HIES Head of School Paul Barton a compromise before the council voted, barring the school from using “amplified sound” during the game because of reported issues last year. Barton said he couldn’t commit to that.
“I think that was a fair compromise,” Paul said, just after voting to deny the permit. “I understand the challenges … please get together with your neighbors and bring us an agreement that we can approve and go forward.”
Barton said field lighting and traffic concerns did not materialize last year, but noise levels were a problem. As a result, the school hired a sound engineering firm to reduce noise using state-of-the-art technology and committed to lowering announcers’ decibel levels.
“Last year we came to the city council with a similar request: the opportunity to have one game under the lights during our homecoming,” Barton said. “We are grateful that the council approved this request last year. It is difficult for me to adequately express what that night under the lights meant for our community.”
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, which serves pre-K to 12th-grade students, operates under a conditional use permit that prohibits lighting on the football field. The special event permit temporarily alters the property’s zoning conditions, which drew opposition from Sandy Springs residents.
In her denial letter, City Manager Eden Freeman wrote that only the city council has the authority to approve a special event permit authorizing field lighting. Before 2025, Holy Innocents’ held its annual homecoming game during the day.
Zoning conditions vs. Friday Night Lights
Council member Andrew Chinsky, who represents District 6, advocated for the special event permit. Chinsky said no one in his district, including neighborhoods around the school, expressed opposition to him.
“Last year, before I was on city council, I attended the game and watched with some of the surrounding neighbors,” Chinsky said. “I thought the game was a success … we talk a lot about ways to encourage young families to move here … so from a city perspective, I think it’s important to support all schools, both public and independent.”
During the public hearing, a Holy Innocents’ senior, a neighboring couple whose children attended the private school, a zoning attorney, and a board member spoke in favor.
Neighbor Kirk Halpern, representing the opposition, said a 10-year agreement could be reached for the school’s homecoming football game and Friday Night Lights.
“I am very pleased with the outreach that Paul Barton, as head of Holy Innocents’, did to me, [and] to the neighborhood, to explain what they were going to try to do on the noise,” Halpern said. “I think there’s a deal that we should be able to do.”
Opposition cites 2009 agreement
Sandy Springs Planning Commission member Steve Leeds, resident Paul Plsek, and Council of Neighborhoods President Ronda Smith spoke against the one-time event permit, expressing more opposition.
“This is a matter of zoning integrity and CUP conditions as law,” Smith said. “Conditions are a pact with the community that become law with included in any use permit approved by this body … they follow the land.”
Elsewhere in Sandy Springs, the Mount Vernon School has also sought the council’s support to override a zoning condition that bars field and stadium lighting. In early 2025, Mayor Rusty Paul cast a tie-breaking vote to deny the permit, which would have permanently changed existing zoning conditions.
During the Sept. 15 public hearing, Paul told HIES leadership not to come back next year unless they have an agreement with a large contingent of neighbors. Barton said he agreed.
Kelley, the only sitting official who voted in favor of the MVS lighting proposal, said she has concerns that the one-time permit will keep coming back, while avoiding the process to amend zoning conditions. She said it wasn’t an easy decision.
Roberts, one of the most outspoken opponents of the permit, said the church and school have expanded over the years within one of the city’s protected neighborhoods.
“Part of my campaign when running for this office was protection of the neighborhoods,” Roberts said. “I don’t like the expansion of schools, especially private schools. If you want an athletic school, they should be going to public school, where they have organized athletic programs and stadiums with lights.”
Rough Draft Atlanta has requested comment from Holy Innocents’ leadership.
