FLOWERY BRANCH – It’s big, it’s needed as soon as possible and it’s anonymous, for now.
That was the message conveyed to the Flowery Branch City Council Thursday evening as City Manager Bill Andrew brought up an item not even on the agenda.
“We had a Go-To Meeting…just yesterday…with an engineering firm and a development company that’s looking to have another distribution warehouse development in the city,” Andrew began.
Andrew said the developer was interested in 80.36-acres adjacent to the Atlanta Falcon Training Center along Falcon Parkway. HF Reed Industrial Parkway bisects the property into two parcels; the developer wants to use the larger parcel on the west side of HF Reed Industrial for constructing the facility.
Andrew shared what little information he had on who might occupy the massive building that will provide 848,200-square-feet under roof when fully built out. “This is ‘Build-to-suit’ which means they have a client ready to move into this building, and wanting the building built.”
“They’re looking at a fairly significant number of employees for this building,” Andrew said with a smile. “And they used the term ‘Headquarters’, which made me very excited, but we don’t know ‘Headquarters’ for what…but they said we would recognize the name of the company.”
Andrew then went from mystery to urgency. “They would like to open by the end of 2021…so they have asked if we could expedite our schedule. I think it is very exciting that we are getting this type of use.”
Andrew explained after the meeting that rezoning applications usually take ninety days or more to run full cycle. He said letters needed to be sent to all adjoining property owners notifying them of the rezoning request and that required public hearings had to be advertised and held.
Andrew said because of the size of the development unique requirements would have to be satisfied by the developer. “This would require a ‘Development of Regional Impact Study’, and they are aware of that. It’s mainly dealing with traffic, but it also notifies the school systems and other providers of public services…it’s required by law.”
Rich Atkinson, Director of Planning and Community Development for Flowery Branch, told council members the rezoning application for the project had been submitted, and that the Development of Regional Impact Study would be submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs by Monday.
“They have asked for a faster schedule because they are on a timeline,” Atkinson said. He said the firm with whom he and Andrew had spoken was Eberly & Associates of Atlanta. “We have dealt a lot with them in the past…so we’re definitely in favor of making this a faster process with them as long as y’all are comfortable with it.”
City council members told Andrew and Atkinson to do whatever was needed to expedite the application process.
