Last week Roswell Mayor Jere Wood informed council members he had vetoed the May 11 vote to allow a rezoning of 30 townhouses on Hardscrabble Road.
The 30 townhouses were part of a more comprehensive project that involved 20.5 acres on the northwest corner of the Ga. 92 Highway-Hardscrabble Road intersection. The project received a 5-1 approval at the May 11 meeting.
Coro Development LLC, the applicant in the rezoning, asked at Monday night's meeting and was granted a deferral until Monday, June 29, to give the company the chance to work out a compromise with the Brookfield West community.
At the May 11 meeting, only one representative from Brookfield West attended to voice the community's opposition to the project. This week, around 70 were in attendance.
Wood, who opposed the rezoning but as mayor has no vote except in a tie, said the Parkway Village zoning overlay that governs development along Ga. 92 in Roswell requires no transitional housing between commercial development and the residential areas behind it. Instead the overlay requires a 175-foot buffer.
"This does away with the buffer. Instead we gave [Coro] transitional housing, which I think is a big mistake. It is a fundamental change to the Parkway Village concept," Wood said.
The veto can be overridden by a simple majority of four votes on the seven-member council. Or the council can simply fail to act and the veto will stand with no action taken.
The Brookfield residents object to the 30 townhouses that would be built on the north end of the project along Hardscrabble Road. The 20.5-acre tract is one of the last undeveloped, big corner lots on Ga. 92 in the city.
Brookfield West, the golf-tennis community with homes valued from $300,000 to $1 million, underwent an $8 million renovation in 2001, and residents say they want to protect their property values.
The community has opposed the townhouse portion of the Coro project, saying single-family homes are what are called for.
Wood also opposed the rezoning of the townhouses, saying it broke the Parkway Village zoning overlay for Ga. 92 initiated 14 years ago when the road was widened to six lanes. In it, the city called for assemblages of parcels with a minimum of 7 acres to develop large tracts and require a 175-foot buffer to protect the residential population behind it.
But the developer argued that a private lake and stream on the property make the project unique and in need of special consideration.
The plan that was approved rezoned the 6.8 acres for townhouses to provide buffering for the project because of those water features.
Labels: brookfield west, Georgia, Hwy 92, mayor jere wood, roswell mayor, townhomes, vetoes coro project
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:19 AM
One of the last big, corner lots on Ga. 92 will go forward with development after the Roswell City Council approved a plan that places just 20 percent of the land on impervious surfaces.
The 20.5-acre tract on the northeast corner of Ga. 92 and Hardscrabble Road faced some opposition due to the 30 townhomes approved on 6.8 acres on the north side of the project. Coro Development LLC argued successfully that in the changing real estate market, single-family homes — especially upscale homes in the $1 million range — can no longer sell next to retail and office development.
Other townhouse properties nearby had higher home density per acre than Coro asked. The townhouses will sell at a price point somewhere in the high $400,000s to low $500,000s.
The project had gone through several evolutions and several owners. A private lake on the property caused some development problems — as did a creek — and rendered half the property unusable. On the northwest corner is a Target shopping center that generates a lot of traffic.
The plan calls for 43,000 square feet of office and retail along Ga. 92. Turning up Hardscrabble, an 80,000-square-foot assisted living community with 100 units is planned, followed by the townhouses.
Those townhouses were the main sticking point. The rezoning to allow the 30 townhouses had a recommendation for denial by staff, and the Planning Commission also recommended denying them as first presented for 48 units.
Michael Gould, representing the Brookfield West Civic Affairs Committee, spoke for the residents who did not want townhouses.
"The plan looks good on paper, but the residents of Brookfield West believe the best way to preserve the neighborhood look of Hardscrabble is keep single-family homes on the street," Gould said.
Mayor Jere Wood and Councilman Kent Igleheart agreed. They both supported denial of the townhouses.
"The Parkway Village zoning overlay was created with 175 feet of buffer between the commercial development and the residential behind it. That has worked well for the last 14 or 15 years. I don't see any reason to change it. I think it's a big mistake," Wood said.
But the council evidently thought the plusses outweighed the minuses in the case of this difficult piece of property. It is a high-end development with a company, Coro, that is well-thought of in the development community.
And as one observer put it, "They aren't likely to see a better plan at such a density."
Coro will have to provide a 360-foot median on Hardscrabble to deter left-turns into and out of the Target. However, Coro will receive a tax credit for three-fourths of the cost of building it, the need for the median was deemed a "system improvement."
System improvements are either made by the city or borne by all of the developers in the area affected. Project improvements such as turn lanes and traffic signals are usually paid by the developer.
In other business, the City Council allowed the deferral of a 140-foot cell tower application at 10930 Crabapple Road. The City deferred the application a second time to June 8. The mayor said the deferral was to allow the applicant more time to find another location.
Labels: development, Hardscrabble Road, Hwy 92, Roswell, townhomes
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:09 AM
