GAINESVILLE – The Hall County Planning Commission unanimously recommended rezoning approval for 166.5-acres along the rapidly growing Spout Springs Road corridor Monday evening, providing for some of the smallest townhouse lot-sizes approved in recent memory.
On an evening when two other rezoning applications garnered strong organized opposition from scores of community members, the rezoning application to allow for a 393-lot single family attached and detached community was recommended for approval without a single person wanting to make public comment.
Gainesville attorney Tyler Smith presented the application, saying the 279 single-family detached homes would sit on an 8000-square feet lot while the 114 single-family attached townhomes (rear and front loading) would be sited on a mere 2000-square foot parcel of real estate.
The request to allow 2000-square feet as the minimum lot size is 60-percent smaller than the 5000-square feet standard normally required by the county for Planned Residential Development.
Understandably, commissioners were concerned about the scale of the variance. McKinley Homes US, LLC, representative Bill Schmidt was asked if there was likelihood that many of the units would be purchased by investors and then turned into rental units.
“As a development-friendly board, we kind of want to know what’s coming,” Commissioner Trey Bell told the applicant.
“They will be sold, fee-simple,” Schmidt responded, “but…people buy them as investment property. We build them to sell…but people rent them. They buy them as investment property and they do rent them.”
Bell asked if the lot sizes could be increased to 2400-square feet, which is still less than half of the PRD standards. Bell also wanted to know if such small lot sizes had ever been approved under another zoning category.
Hall County Planning Director Sarah McQuade told Bell she didn’t know the answer to his question about another zoning classification but added, “This sort of configuration for a townhome is not atypical.”
After checking her records McQuade was able to tell commissioners that under another recent rezoning application townhomes on 2400-square feet lots were approved by the Hall County Commission.
Planning Commission Chairman Chris Braswell said of the minimalistic lot sizes, “If there was ever a poster-child for anti-sprawl, this is it. If that is good or bad, I do not know.”
“I understand the economics of it,” Bell said. “I know you’re going to lose a few lots.”
Schmidt said, “It’s really not a question of losing a few lots, it’s really a question of design. It’s the ‘feel’ of the front porches…out by the sidewalks. It’s really a TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) type design…but to get bigger it’ll raise the price of the homes.”
Braswell commented, “It creates more of a sense of community…and I don’t know if we want to take away that concept.”
Bell agreed. “I think, honestly, that’s where things are going. I think it’s a good concept. I think it looks good.”
Braswell then called for a vote, saying, “If we’re breaking new ground here we want to make it nice.”
The vote to recommend for approval was unanimous and the application now goes to the Hall County Commission for final consideration on September 23rd.
