The Hall County Board of Commissioners tabled two separate business rezonings Thursday night after objections were brought forward from concerned citizens.
During Thursday night’s commission meeting, the board heard from applicants seeking to rezone their respective plots of land. Reginald Crayton, P.E. hopes to rezone 6.34 acres on Cleveland Highway from Agriculture Residential III to Suburban Shopping. Anchor Inn RV & Boat Storage seeks to rezone 9.06 acres on McEver Road from Agricultural Residential III to Highway Business.
Both items saw heavy opposition from neighboring residents, which prompted the board to postpone decisions on the items until the February 23 commission meeting.
Cleveland Highway Rezoning
The application proposes an 11,000-square-foot grocery store, a 4,000-square-foot restaurant and a 3,250-square-foot convenience store with an attached gas station. If final approval is given by the Board of Commissioners, the complex will be built where Cleveland Highway and Jim Hood Road intersect.
It has yet to be determined which stores and restaurants hope to be housed on the property. It is their intent to host an independent grocery store and preliminary interest suggests IGA as a candidate.
The Planning Commission approved the rezoning in Nov. 2022, but the Board of Commissioners has the final say on land rezoning issues.
A representative of nearby residents spoke against the rezoning, citing concerns for traffic, light pollution, increased criminal activity and ingress/egress routes. Additionally, there were complaints that on-property signage about the rezoning was not appropriately displayed.
Newly elected District 3 Commissioner Gregg Poole opted to table the item at the recommendation of legal counsel in order to give citizens additional opportunities to see the proposed project.
McEver Road Rezoning
The area in question is at the curve where Silverthorn Drive meets McEver Road. Applicants from Anchor Inn RV & Boat Storage presented plans to the commission and requested a conditional use permit for the storage facility as well. Both the conditional use permit and rezoning request were tabled. Anchor Inn hopes to expand its existing business property, situated just east of the land in question.
The Planning Commission approved the rezoning in Dec. 2022, and applicants will now await the final decision by the board.
District 1 Commissioner Kathy Cooper said there are several key issues that need to be corrected before moving forward with approval.
“I think he [the applicant] has a good development, and I feel like he's a good neighbor to them,” Cooper said. “But when you're bordering residential, you need to make sure your buffers are in place. And that was maybe an oversight, but he should still do it.”
Many of the concerns brought up by neighboring residents had to do with sightlines into the storage property and buffers of trees to help mitigate that issue.
