West Hall residents hear plans for mega-development

GAINESVILLE - About 100 people attended a community meeting Thursday night hosted by the developer who wants to construct a 744-home mixed-use active-adult community on the west side of Gainesville.

Levitt and Sons used the session to present a detailed description of its plans - announced earlier this year - for 421 acres at and just west of the Brown Bridge Road-McEver Road intersection. Plans calls for most of the homes to be built on a tract that fronts Browns Bridge from McEver to near Keith Bridge Road. Planned amenities include a 28,000-square-foot clubhouse with an on-site activities director. The residential component - a gated community - will be for people 55 and older.

Questions from those from the surrounding area invited to the meeting, which was held at Free Chapel Worship Center, had to do with the size of several bridges planned as part of the project, the kind of traffic control that would be in place at the entrance to the development, and the build-out time for the project.

The audience was told by Dan Grosswald, Atlanta region president for Levitt and Sons, that the bridges would be standard two-lane structures. They are included to prevent access to the property from roads that now serve two subdivisions Seasons At Lake Lanier would surround - Lost River and Mill Creek. An associate of Grosswald's said it would be up to the state Department of Transportation to decide when and whether a traffic light would be necessary at the entrance to the development.

"They may decide that we need to put one there before the first house is built or after 30 houses are built."

Grosswald said it's hard to say what the build-out time will be. "It could be up to five years, depending on the rate of sales."

He added that the first phase of construction will begin at the eastern end of the property and work westward, all on the northern side of Brown's Bridge Road. The tract across the road near Keith Bridge Road would be developed last.

Ten acres of the 421-acre site would be set aside for up to 80,000 square feet of commercial/retail space which would be located at Browns Bridge and McEver. Pawn shops, "prurient" adult entertainment, adult bookstores, hotels, motels, extended stay hotels, rooming houses, and boarding houses would not be allowed as part of the commercial/retail site.

The density of the housing would be 1.78 units/acre; the minimum house size, 1,500 square feet; and the expected price range of those houses, $220,00-$500,000.

The Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board is to consider the matter Nov. 8.