Faith building: Private Columbia County Christian school gets OK to expand its campus
A private Columbia County parochial school won the county's permission to build temporary classrooms to use while a new school is being built.
Community Christian Academy at 4594 Columbia Rd. in Martinez has been on the campus of Trinity Baptist Church of Columbia County since the school's 2016 founding.
The church requested a zoning revision to build temporary classroom space to use for up to two academic years while constructing a new school.
The three parcels that comprise the church campus are on the south side of Columbia Road, on both sides of Hillcrest Drive, and are bounded to the east by Oak Ridge Road.
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The church proposes two building phases, to occur simultaneously.
Phase one would erect 15,470 square feet of temporary classrooms for CCA's Upper School. The building would include a landscaped buffer fronting Oak Ridge Road.
Phase two would construct an 8,400-square-foot gymnasium directly behind the main church building.
A past zoning revision on the church's campus permitted athletic fields and extra parking in 2007. A 2015 revision allowed a 16,000-square-foot Family Life Center, which has been completed; a 10,000-square-foot multipurpose gym and fellowship hall; and a sanctuary expansion that the church later chose not to pursue.
County planners approved the church's request, on the condition that "an adequate route for pickup and drop-off of students on school property and the school may not use or impede the flow of traffic in Columbia County's right-of-way," according to county planners' summarized analysis of the request.
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners this week approved the request.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Community Christian Academy braces for another campus expansion
