The Flowery Branch City Council had several questions about a proposed development in the city's downtown as they prepare for a final vote later this month.
Diego Francasso and Lights Ferry Partners, LLC are looking to rezone just under two acres of land at the corner of the Lights Ferry Road roundabout between Mitchell Street and Gainesville Street to build a seven-lot subdivision.
While an early proposal showed a detention pond at the corner of roundabout, Francasso told the council Thursday he hopes to have a workaround for that by running storm water in the neighborhood underground.
"With what we've come up with with our engineers, the worst-case scenario is it would be a dry pond as is the one at the roundabout that we already have right now," Francasso said. "We would actually like to get rid of it completely if we could do something like a water drainage system at each house."
After the meeting, Flowery Branch City Councilman Joe Anglin said he would like to avoid making a detention pond at the roundabout if possible.
"It's just unattractive and obviously it's a haven for mosquitos and everything else and it would be right there at that corner," Anglin said.
One resident spoke at Thursday's meeting saying he's concerned about the traffic impact at the busy intersection.
"I'm all in favor of the houses, but I'm a little bit concerned about cars coming out of the driveways and the amount of traffic on (Lights Ferry Road)," Mark Webber told the council. "Many days, particularly on the weekend, people are going back and forth to the two marinas. I don't know how you can handle that."
Anglin said if the storm water issue can be resolved, he would be supportive of the development.
"The renderings and everything look great. Really nice-looking homes. It's almost like an extension of what's been going on there at Mitchell Street," Anglin said. "A lot of adjustments needed to be made and we're getting to a pretty close spot there where everybody feels comfortable with it."
The city council is set to hold a final vote on the rezoning request on May 19. No action was taken at Thursday's meeting.
