GAINESVILLE – An accord was reached and a quartet of zoning applications were approved by the Hall County Commission Thursday evening, allowing for the expansion of Lanier Raceplex on Winder Highway near Braselton.
“I want to thank both sides,” Commissioner Billy Powell said. “Y’all have done a great job in trying to be open-minded, to work together, (and) compromise back and forth. We (Hall County commissioners) rarely get a good case of that.”
The “sides” Powell referenced are applicant MP Partners Development, LLC, on one hand, and the residents of Benefield Road on the other. Benefield Road borders the northeast side of the planned 136.73-acre project which will bring a residential component, a hotel, and various commercial opportunities to the existing race track.
Lanier Raceplex traces its origin back to 1982 but some of the Benefield Road families go back much further than that, some over one hundred years.
As the applications moved through the various steps leading to Thursday’s final vote emotions had run high. Powell said, “I thought y’all did a good job. The presenters kept their composure. You can tell how passionate everybody is about it, and I appreciate it.”
Trip Campbell, agent for MP Partners and an avid race fan, said he has held numerous face-to-face discussions with the residents of Benefield Road since his four applications met strong and unified resistance from them in early July.
“Since Planning Commission I’ve met with the residents, I’ve spoken to many of them and heard their concerns,” Campbell said. “We are actually going to move our family to Benefield Road. So we also are going to be neighbors in the community and we care about the same and similar concerns that they raised.”
“Since then we have modified some of our plans based on those concerns, to hopefully met them and find some common ground,” Campbell explained.
Before Thursday’s vote by the commission, Campbell also agreed to several last-minute requests from the Benefield Road residents at the meeting, including an increased vegetative buffer, limiting the hours of operation for certain aspects of the raceway, and assuring that access from the complex onto Benefield Road would only be done under emergency conditions and limited to use by ambulances, fire trucks, and similar operators.
According to MP Partners Development, LLC, the project is expected to take five years to complete.
