The Hall County Planning Commission approved a special use Monday to allow for a new building more than 100-foot tall for an existing cold storage facility on Athens Highway in the east end of the county.
Agile Cold Storage is already operating in one building at the site at Roy Parks Road and is now looking to build the new building that they're calling "Phase 2" of the development. The proposed building is expected to be between 120 and 120 feet tall, but Agile representatives told the planning commission Monday that the building's foundation will start about 10 feet below the current land grade.
Planning Commissioner Stan Hunt said the building will bring jobs to the area and a lot more storage to the plant.
"Compared to the Agile Cold Storage phase one, they store approximately 20,000 pallets in that facility. This facility will store 50,000 pallets," Hunt said after the meeting.
Hunt served as the interim chairman for the meeting with Chairman Chris Braswell absent. He said he's excited about the development.
"I think it's a fantastic project. I had the opportunity to look at some of the engineering," Hunt said. "It's some new technology as far as robotics that they're putting in place and I think it's an asset to the community."
No one spoke for or against the request in the public comment portion of the meeting. Agile representatives said they expect they're hoping the new building will be operational by the end of 2023.
