A unanimous recommendation for approval of rezoning to allow a 71-unit townhouse development on Georgia Route 16/Monticello Highway came Monday evening from the City of Eatonton’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
The final decision on the rezoning request will be made by Eatonton City Council at its usual mid-month meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. March 20, at the county administration building.
Rick McAllister, of Athens-based McAllister Site Consulting, served as the agent for Mathers Meats and More in making the rezoning request. The Mathers property lies directly across from Ingle’s grocery store on the south side of Monticello Highway.
The rezoning request asked to combine two parcels (0.95 acres that contain a house and a meat processing building with A-1 zoning and 25.71 acres of undisturbed timberland with C-2 zoning). If approved, the combined parcel would carry new R-3 zoning (planned development).
The triangle-shaped property has a 1,000-foot frontage on Monticello Highway but is hampered for development by a Georgia Power Company transmission line easement on its west side and a creek flood plain on its east side.
McAllister also requested a zero setback from the Monticello Highway right-of-way, but Lisa Jackson, who serves as director of planning and zoning for both the city and county, told him that would require a separate variance request.
Under R-3 zoning, further development of the relatively small area of “open space” at the southern end of the triangle is possible as Phase 2.
The other area that drew questions from the commissioners involved turning lanes on the highway. The current concept plan does include a turn lane from the west. However, McAlister called the idea of a center-of-the-road left turn lane from the east “super-duper expensive” and something that would be decided by the Georgia Department of Transportation anyway.
A traffic study accompanying the request shows the highway could easily handle the additional traffic, especially with the U.S. 441/ bypass traffic signal creating gaps in traffic flow. However, the study does not include potential traffic from a large apartment development approved last year, should it be completed, along the west side of Georgia Power’s transmission line easement.
Prices of the proposed townhouses, aimed at ownership and long-term renters, would be determined by the market, McAllister said. Plans call for two-car garages for each unit. Build-out of the development would take three to five years.