GAINESVILLE – A unanimous recommendation to approve a rezoning request was given by the Hall County Planning Commission for a proposed 158-unit mixed-use assisted-living development at the intersection of McEver and Radford Roads.
Despite concerns expressed by seven neighbors that the 21.4-acre tract near Flowery Branch Elementary School would become the site of a traffic nightmare, and that assisted-living residents could require more frequent visits from emergency personnel, Commissioners agreed with developers that the problems would prove to be much less than anticipated.
Kelli Salyer, Vice-President with Just People, operators of the proposed development, explained that the term “assisted-living” was misleading as it described the clientele who would resident at the complex.
“The interaction with medical and emergency personnel…is not any more than a regular neighborhood. Because they’re developmentally disabled does not mean that they have medical issues,” Salyer explained.
Salyer referred to Down’s and Asperger’s Syndromes as two of the challenges residents of the complex would be facing. She explained that such clients are considered as assisted-living individuals but pose no threat to neighbors nor require extraordinary medical care.
“It’s basically just helping them to live their lives, and “assisted-living” is used simply because there’s not a better term for it,” Salyer said.
She pointed out that few, if any, of the residents drive so additional vehicular traffic along Radford Road was a moot point.
Commission Chairman Don Smallwood said he was very familiar with the proposed site and offered his opinion on the use of the property.
“We all know that at some point in time there…would be something on that property,” Smallwood began.
“What we want is the best development that we can get in there. I think it would be a good development,” Smallwood offered.
Salyer read to the Commission a letter of recommendation written by the mayor of Roswell, Jere Wood, where an identical development has been in operation since 1995. Mayor Wood wrote to the Planning Commission asking them to highly consider “Just People” as an asset to Hall County.
Final rezoning approval will be determined by the Hall County Commission.
