The Hall County Planning Commission on Monday approved a 100-lot subdivision on Union Church Road near the Steeple Chase Lane intersection.
However, the approval was not what developer Ridgeland Land Planning hoped for.
Ridgeland Land Planning representative Keith Breedlove originally proposed to develop 150 lots on the 50-acre property. Commissioners expressed concern about the lot size meeting the planned residential development requirements.
The minimum planned residential development for a single-family residential lot is 8,000 square feet. Breedlove proposed a lot size of 6,250 square feet. The site would also have a density of 2.98 acres per unit.
Property that is served by public sewer systems has a recommended density of two units per acre.
Hall County planning staff had previously recommended denial of the subdivision and recommended decreasing the density to 1.97 units per acre.
“The density site 1.97 is not doable,” Breedlove said. “We couldn't do that. The cost to put the sewer in, route the turn lanes, everything else we're required to do, and the cost of that today... It will make the project cost prohibitive.”
Breedlove said that the neighborhood would be geared towards first-time homeowners, and estimated that the houses would have a projected price point of $300,000.
Nearby resident Linda Mixon was concerned that her home value would decrease as a result of the subdivision’s estimated cost. She also disagreed with the proposed acreage of each property and compared the acreage to other properties in the area.
“These are all communities that have at least three to four or more acres for their homes,” Mixon said. “So we are here trying to have our community stay in a semblance of what we originally had come up to. Our home values will decrease immensely if we go into a $300,000 home. My home currently is valuing over a million dollars. So you're going to affect me greatly.”
Another nearby resident Jennifer Pulliam was concerned about traffic from the new subdivision, combined with congestion from another planned subdivision that will go on the former Mixon Farm property.
Commissioners ultimately decided to approve the development, as long as the lots will total 8,000 feet and still meet the 30 percent non-developed green space requirement.
“I think that if you're going to stick to the code, it needs to be 8,000-square-foot lots and two units per acre,” Gina Pilcher, the chairman appointment said. “Windwalker and Steeple Chase Lane [subdivisions] have been there for 30 plus years. They've remained very sought-after homes in those two subdivisions. I think that we would be doing those two long-lasting subdivisions a disservice to go any more than two [lots] per acre.”
