The Flowery Branch City Council on Thursday made the first vote in favor of a request to rezone 60.79 acres into a 335-home residential complex on 5183 Gainesville Street.
Applicant Edge City Properties submitted a request to build a $126 million dollar property with 186 single-family homes and 149 townhomes.
City Council members voted four to one in favor of the development, which would change the zoning from Agricultural to Residential Multi-Family. Council member Chris Mundy voted against the development due to density concerns.
Additionally, Council member Joe Anglin said the density needs to stay consistent with the City’s 15% density requirement for townhomes and apartments.
“Where having the single-family detached is not that big of an issue, but then when you add the townhomes, you do start to get some pretty significant numbers as far as where we're going to be with our comp plan,” Anglin said. “And our comp plan is right up against 15%.”
Properties that are zoned as Residential Multi-Family must have a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet. In the original site analysis, the applicant proposed a minimum lot size of 4,500 square feet.
Edge City Properties representative Mike Dye said this development would be an asset to the downtown Flowery Branch community, despite Council members’ density concerns. Dye said he would connect sidewalks from his potential property to other nearby apartment complexes on McEver Road and into downtown Flowery Branch to create a better walking area.
“As the City is trying to grow the downtown area, I just feel that the density for this project… I know I've got some work to do on that,” Dye said. “But any increase in density that you can help feed the downtown shops and restaurants is going to benefit this community.”
Dye said some lots could be extended into the site’s green space area. The green space takes up 26% of the land, which exceeds the 15% requirement for green space.
Each acre would fit 12 units. The units would range in size between 1,900 square feet for one-story townhomes to 3,300 square feet for homes.
Ultimately, City Council members decided to give this proposal the first vote, as long as Dye keeps the site’s density to 15%.
“I just feel like that is a very, very important note that we do not surpass,” Anglin. “If the developer would work on [the density], I would like to see it move forward and be on the work session for the next meeting so that we can see if some of those things have been addressed before we come back in for a second vote.”
The City Council will hold a work session on Sept. 1 and will cast the final vote on Sept. 15.
