Sandy Springs’ neighborhoods will join buildings around the globe for World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) annual Earth Hour by turning off non-essential lights on Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m. local time. For 2010, Earth Hour Atlanta seeks metro area commitments to surpass previous participation and to make a lasting impact on energy savings.

The annual global event organized by WWF is held on the last Saturday of March. Households and businesses are asked to do something quite simple-turn off lights for one hour in a call for action on climate change. The collective actions demonstrate what can be accomplished when working together to protect the planet for future generations. Earth Hour 2009 gained support from nearly one billion people in 4,100 cities in 87 countries.

Energy savings affect water supply, air quality and economic development, all critical issues. You can follow the Earth Hour Atlanta project at www.twitter.com/EarthHourATL.

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Following the withdrawal of the Epstein School’s plans for expansion , the Sandy Springs city council voted 4-2 Tuesday to allow Holy Spirit Preparatory School to build an athletics complex, including a football field, on a site near an established neighborhood.

Some residents and opponents to the council’s vote felt the three year old city of Sandy Springs had broken a promise to protect the integrity of the neighborhoods .

“The intention was to provide better representation to the citizens of this area,” said Mark Wolfe, who opposed the project.

Holy Spirit is a Catholic school for children in pre-kindergarten through high school. It already has two academic campuses. The athletics complex will include an administrative building, a combined football and soccer field, seating for 400 spectators and tennis courts.

The site is an eight-acre parcel of undeveloped land off Long Island Drive, just south of I-285.

More than 200 residents and school boosters attended the council meeting Tuesday, spilling over into an adjoining room.

The city planning staff had recommended denial of the project, which needed a special use permit and four variances from city zoning laws. Critics complained it violated the city’s plans for land use.

Advocates argued the conditions imposed — such as limits on the number of games and hours of operation — would mitigate problems with traffic, noise and lighting. The council voted to limit the number of night home games to 12 a year and they would be required to end at 11 p.m.

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The private Epstein School has canceled its plans to expand its campus into a surrounding Sandy Springs neighborhood.

Although residents protested the expansion, the school had planned to move forward with the expansion however a sour economy and poor fund-raising effors has forced the Jewish day school to withdraw its application.

Last summer, school officials sought city permission to expand the school from 650 students to 850 and to expand its campus to include a theater and an early childhood education building.

The campus on Colewood Way would have grown by 4 acres to 15 acres. The project would have required the demolition of several single-family homes, a prospect that angered many long-time residents. Several hundred residents packed public meetings on the project.

As a condition for its acquisition of what had been a public school, Epstein in 1994 agreed to hold its enrollment to 650. Several neighbors said they felt betrayed by the push for growth.

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