GAINESVILLE – Atlanta Botanical Gardens will be adding acreage and parking spots if an annexation and rezoning application is approved by the Gainesville City Council.
The 167-acre former estate home site of Charles and Lessie Smithgall has been the core property of the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Gainesville location since it opened in 2015 and is home to the largest conservation nursery in the southeast.
The existing site also hosts several musical concerts each year in its 2000-seat amphitheater, and because of limited parking on the property a network of shuttle buses to off-site parking locations has been necessary to accommodate the growing number of concert attendees.
Part of the development plan submitted to the City of Gainesville and recommended for approval by the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board Tuesday evening includes the creation of nearly 700 additional parking spaces, essentially eliminating the need for the shuttle service.
If given final approval by the city council just over 17-acres will be added to the site and 20.7-acres will be rezoned to Planned Unit Development bringing the entire site into one zoning classification.
Included in the application is the mention of a possible secondary access road along the southern edge of the property connecting onto the terminus of Roper Hill Road. The current main entrance point is on Cleveland Highway via Sweetbay Drive, entering the facility across from Riverwood Drive.
The possibility of an additional access point was the lone issue creating concern expressed by those making public comment at Tuesday’s Planning and Appeals Board meeting.
Both Alex Mathes and Alison Toller live in the Cry Creek Subdivision on a cul-de-sac that backs up against the proposed roadway location and are concerned with the effect new traffic might bring to their secluded neighborhood.
“I went online to find some information about this proposed change. I read the applicant’s narrative describing the proposed actions…and it didn’t offer any specific information, exactly what they are planning to do (with) this proposed alternative access,” Mathes said.
“I hope they will work with adjacent landowners to minimize their disturbance,” Mathes added.
Toller told board members, “What I’m concerned about is taking that rezoned property and creating a road from a much more public area and bringing it directly into our backyards… especially since it hasn’t been disclosed what the road would be used for.”
Bradley Dunkle of land development company Rochester and Associates of Gainesville said his client would only use the access road on rare occasions when the volume of traffic exiting the property would require an addition point of egress, such as at the conclusion of a concert.
“This would, kind of, give a back access to bleed off some of that traffic,” Dunkle explained.
Art Fix, Atlanta Botanical Garden Chief Operating Officer, also responded to Mathes and Toller’s concern. “I think we’ve got three (concerts) we’ve trying to get scheduled for this coming summer. So the normal traffic flow for the Garden will continue to be Sweetbay Drive which is our main entrance drive.”
The applications now go to the Gainesville City Council for final consideration in December.
