GAINESVILLE – The Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board gave unanimous endorsement Tuesday evening to a pair of rezoning requests, demonstrating again that strong growth is permeating Hall County’s largest municipality.
The lone surprise of the evening would probably be the fact that plans for another retail outlet along the Dawsonville Highway corridor saw neither public comment nor opposition.
For the past couple of years the rapid development along that corridor has seen no shortage of citizens willing to comment at public hearings and share their concerns about traffic congestion and overdevelopment.
But that was not the case Tuesday evening as a unanimous recommendation for approval was granted by the board for rezoning that would allow a 36,000-square-feet grocery store on a 6.85-acre tract of land next door to the Jackson EMC facility and across the street from Trinity Baptist Church.
Lidl US Operations is the grocery store applicant.
GPAB Chairman Doug Carter had to recuse himself from this application due to a conflict of interest, so vice-chair Jane Fleming asked the audience if anyone wanted to speak in opposition to the rezoning.
No one came forward so Fleming said, “Well, if there is no one in opposition we’ll close the floor.” Within 30-seconds a motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously.
The second rezoning request took a bit longer as homeowners living adjacent to a 21.87-acre site on South Enota Drive had concerns about preserving the wetlands between their neighborhood, The Woodlands on Lake Brenau, and a proposed 65-unit townhouse development.
Woodlands resident Ron Cosgrove said, “I walk outside and see deer almost every single day. We have a certain amount of wildlife that will be gone away if this development occurs.”
Cosgrove’s neighbor, Nicole Graff, agreed. Wildlife, she said, often wandered up from the wetland area, and she was concerned what would happen to it if they were crowded out by new construction.
The wetlands are the remaining artifact and drainage basin of Lake Brenau, a former reservoir drained decades ago due to structural problems with its dam.
Cosgrove said, “We are considering the possibility of placing Lake Brenau on the National Historic registry…and let’s leave it in the condition it’s in now.”
Cheryl Lance-Love, another Woodlands resident, said, “Even if the dam is never repaired and the lake is never restored…the wetlands are beautiful.”
Lance-Love asked that the developer pledge to leave the wooded buffer and wetlands area off-limits. “No natural trails, no benches, no parks; it’s off-limits.”
Gainesville Planning Manager Matt Tate explained that since the rezoning request made by the applicant designated the wetlands area as an undisturbed natural buffer, should the rezoning be approved, the area would be restricted and off-limits to any change.
“The plat that would be recorded for the property would restrict and keep that area as an undisturbed buffer,” Tate said.
Board members recommended approval unanimously moments later.
Graff said after the meeting, “We’re obviously a little bit disappointed. I do not feel, I doubt any of us feel, completely defeated yet. So I think we need to regroup and see how everybody feels in our community…and be at the city council meeting next month.”
Both measures will now go to the Gainesville City Council for a final decision on September 19th.
