GAINESVILLE - A new office building along Thompson Bridge Road, south of Virginia Avenue, on the north end of Gainesville is a step closer to reality following an approval from the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board Tuesday night.
Applicant Chris Patton, a land surveyor, asked the city for a variance of the buffer on the property, dropping the required footage from 25 down to 15, which was denied; however the plan (and the denial of the variance) ultimately will be decided by the Gainesville City Council.
City planning staff recommended four conditions with the property:
- The architecture will be similar to what was submitted in the application, with at least half the building showing brick, stone, or rock materials on the exterior walls.
- A minimum 25-foot buffer will be kept along the eastern portion of the property (the "back" that doesn't face Thompson Bridge Road), which will be composed of evergreen trees.
- The northern side will have an eight-foot opaque fence.
- The property cannot be turned into a convenience store, coin laundry, or tattoo parlor.
In a 5-1 vote, the board approved the the plan with the conditions, except for No. 3, which Planning Manager Matt Tate said "wouldn't cause the planning staff any heart problems" if it wasn't included, something Patton agreed with.
"I just think if you're riding down a corridor like that and you a big, broad fence, it just doesn't fit in with the surrounding developments there. It looks imprisoned," said Patton.
He said he isn't done, either; he plans to try to persuade members of the city council to approve the buffer reduction, while still holding onto the elimination of the fence.
"If you can't all that in, obviously you've got to change the layout and start modifying things," said Patton.
Tate emphasized that the issue at hand is the battle between the variance and the conditions, since the property is already zoned for the type of business development Patton is applying for.
The 7,700 square foot facility would sit on a roughly two-thirds acre tract, and Patton says dropping the buffer down would help alleviate some of the pressure of the tighter space.
If approved, the project would also require driveway improvements from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
As it stands, there is only one driveway into the now-vacant lot off of Thompson Bridge Road.
