GAINESVILLE – The on-again, off-again annexation and rezoning request from Limestone Greenway, LLC, to annex into the city and then develop a tract of land along Limestone Parkway near Jesse Jewell Parkway finally made its way through the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board, receiving a unanimous recommendation for approval.
The matter first appeared before the GPAB in April as a 75.12-acre commercial and residential apartment concept, was tabled for a month in May, and then was downscaled to 33.87-acres of commercial-only development in June.
On July 17th the developer withdrew the request requiring the city council to attach a status of “With Prejudice” or “Without Prejudice” to the application. Council members voted to make the withdrawal “Without Prejudice” meaning the developer would not have to wait six months before reapplying.
That was just the case as the application was considered anew by the GPAB in its original 75.12-acre format Tuesday evening.
Developer Wendell Starke told GPAB members the site had to be annexed into the city (it is now a part of unincorporated Hall County) because sewer service was the only way the property could be developed as planned. “The annexation is essential because there is no sewer in the county in this area and the city will not provide any sewer to the county in this area.”
Starke continued, “Please approve the annexation otherwise the majority of this property is simply not usable, except to walk around on.”
Starke also addressed an item of concern expressed by area residents at previous meetings: “They won’t be going out on Lakeview Drive; that will not be a problem.” The lone entrance into the development will be off Limestone Parkway according to Starke.
Odis Sisk lives on Quarry Street; Quarry Street is the extension of the aforementioned Lakeview Drive; it runs from the Gainesville Middle School east entrance to Jesse Jewell Parkway. Sisk’s residence abuts the proposed development and he is a professional arborist who is very concerned about the century old trees that currently are on the site.
“We fall underneath quite a few different ordinances or protections because of the historic conservation area that we live in,” Sisk said.
“And it looks like the way this developer likes to works is they bulldoze everything,” Sisk said referring to another project developed by Starke, Mundy Mill Subdivision.
“This is a forest so when you start clear-cutting a forest that’s a gigantic ecological catastrophe for that entire area,” Sisk said. “We won’t have a chance to recover the trees so let’s get this right the first time.”
Another neighbor who spoke in opposition to the planned construction was Mark Vantassel. He asked about the reason for the quick reapplication by Limestone Greenway, LLC, after withdrawing their request in July.
Vantassel cited a letter from the City of Gainesville Board of Education to the GPAB dated April 27, 2018, in which the school board expressed concern about the availability of classroom space for the people moving into the proposed development.
“We learned…that the impact on the schools was going to be negative…and the developer withdrew…because they did not want to place a burden on the school system,” Vantassel said.
“How did it change from two months ago? What’s changed?” Vantassel asked.
That question, and probably several others, will likely be posed when the annexation and rezoning request comes before the Gainesville City Council the first Tuesday in October for a final decision.
That meeting is scheduled to take place at the Public Safety Complex on Queen City Parkway at 5:30 p.m. on October 2nd. Click here to view the annexation and rezoning requests as well as ancillary documents.
