GAINESVILLE – Hall County planners said at Monday evening’s Planning Commission meeting they needed to take another look at a pair of applications that would allow for a junkyard and salvage site along Athens Highway.
That reaction after Kenneth Brown of nearby Gaines Mill Road used only two of the three minutes allotted to him during public comment to succinctly make his point. “I’m in opposition to another salvage and junkyard on the south side,” he began.
“I grew up in Newtown, on the south side,” the 70-year old Brown said. “I grew up on a site that was a former landfill.”
(Newtown is the area of Gainesville where much of the debris caused by “The Tornado of ‘36” was hauled during the ensuing cleanup.)
“And it just seems like the quality of life that’s on that side is not progressing. It seems like if you want to put something like that (junk yard or landfill), put it on the south side,” Brown continued. “You don’t consider north Hall, east Hall or west Hall.”
“I grew up hoping that one day I could live in an area that was not detrimental to the quality of life, but it’s just been added and added and added and added,” he said firmly. “Enough is enough.”
What Brown said actually agreed with the argument presented by the applicant wanting to develop the 39-acre site just north of Gaines Mill Road on U.S. 129. Joey Cox told commissioners during his presentation that his plans for a junkyard and auto salvage facility matched the surrounding developments perfectly.
“The property is bordering two landfills so I don’t think there’s any issues with neighbors…so I feel like it (his junk yard application under consideration) is a good fit for the piece of property,” Cox said.
It was also pointed out to commissioners that the existing junk yards along Athens Highway, as well as the new application under consideration, involved sites within the Gateway Corridor Overlay District (GCOD).
Gainesville attorney Wesley Robinson told commissioners that a client of his had to look outside of the GCOD to locate a salvage yard site for a business he wanted to open. “He hopes that you don’t approve another salvage yard within the Gateway Corridor Overlay…but if you do there may be other people that are going to come and ask you to make an exception for them, too,” Robinson said.
Planning Commission Chairman Chris Braswell asked Planning Director Sarah McQuade for her advice and she said, “My recommendation would be that we table these items so I can speak with the County Attorney because they (Hall County codes) do list them as prohibited.”
Unanimously Planning Commission members agreed and the matter was tabled to the November 15th Planning Commission meeting.
POPLAR SPRINGS DEVELOPMENT RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
An application by Forestar(USA) Real Estate Group, Inc., to allow for the construction of a 192-lot subdivision on Poplar Springs Road at Poplar Springs Church Road, received a recommendation for approval from the Hall County Planning Commission Monday evening.
Nearly thirty minutes of public comment and a lengthy discussion by commission members preceded the unanimous vote to send the application to the Hall County Commission on December 9th for final consideration. A total of eight conditions were attached to the original application.
