The addition of Juliet balconies, bumped-out facades and more brick led to design approval for a new six-story, 146-unit apartment building behind City Hall.
Gateway 75 developer Scott Thompson worked with his designer to address concerns raised at the Aug. 5 Design Review Board meeting and the Aug. 12 meeting of the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission.
Both boards felt the upper residential floors were too flat and not architecturally varied enough for that large, somewhat V-shaped building with wings facing D.T. Walton Sr. Way and Plum Street.
The ground floors feature about 7,000 square feet of retail space and entrances to a handful of two-story townhomes on Plum Street.
Situated along the 500 block of D.T. Walton Sr. Way, the updated building design added more brick to be level with the top of Alex Habersham’s existing brick office building. By separating the new construction farther away from the back of the Brian Adams Law Firm building on the Plum Street corner, the new plans allowed windows on previously blank walls. `
New, non-functioning balconies face both streets.
“The windows will not be operable so those are simply there in order to create an appearance,” Thompson said of the so-called Juliet balconies named for the Shakespeare heroine.
“You’ve done a good job. I think it’s much better,” P&Z Chair Jeane Easom said at Monday’s P&Z hearing.
Thompson’s firm also is working with the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority on a 355-space parking garage in the center of the block. Under a bond deal the UDA plans to finalize at its next meeting, Gateway will build the deck and then turn over the completed garage to the UDA to own, maintain and manage as part of the Park Macon system.
The starkness of the concrete garage, which will be visible behind City Hall and from First Street, will also be addressed by decorating its facade.
“We will provide UDA with an allowance of $200,000 for creating some kind of artistic treatment to the garage,” Thompson said.
UDA has not yet selected a design but is exploring options for the garage that will serve apartment residents, county workers and the public.
Vineville sign, dance studio and duplexes
Attorney Duke Groover tried to convince P&Z that one large changeable digital display was better than several static signs clustered together, but failed.
Groover was seeking a variance to allow a 148-square-foot sign at 3051 Vineville Ave. where only 50 square feet of a changeable copy sign is permitted.
“Can you achieve advertising on something smaller?” asked P&Z’s Kesia Stafford. “This is three times the amount.”
Groover said that if the four existing tenants all erected signs at the old Chichester’s building, which includes Regymen Fitness and the new Lazarus men’s and women’s clothier, it would total 200 square feet.
Although Groover cited traffic studies from the Federal Highway Administration and Texas A&M that “did not provide evidence that these types of signs were responsible for long glances from the road,” P&Z’s Tim Jones still was concerned about safety.
“You have to acknowledge there is a risk,” Jones said. “Vineville is a unique corridor in Macon-Bibb County with the changeable lane.”
Easom said, “I’d like to see something a little bit smaller.”
Knowing he did not have the three votes needed for approval, Groover asked for a deferral until the Sept. 9 meeting, when he also returns with plans for a new Dollar General Store on the corner of Northside and Tharpe drives.
P&Z approved Soapstone Construction’s conditional use permit to allow consolidation of 11 parcels into a one-acre tract for a 16-unit multifamily development bordered by Schofield and Ellis streets, which is off of Riverside Drive near the new bridge over Interstate 75.
Soapstone is renovating eight existing duplexes that date back to 1960.
P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri said this is the third developer he’s met with and talked to about this property in his more than two years on staff.
“It was abandoned and all the utilities abandoned,” Ruggieri told the commission.
Consolidating the lots solved the problem of supplying public water to the property since it could be done under one meter, and also addressed parking issues.
The developer plans to submit a revised plan to P&Z staff to make sure parking is sufficient for the landlocked property that backs up to I-75 and the U.S. Army Reserve Center at 1690 Riverside Drive.
P&Z also approved a dance studio to move into 3,600 square feet in a new retail development at 1448 Bass Road.
The Barre Dance Studio will occupy two suites in the recently constructed commercial site near Providence Boulevard.
Other agenda items
- 609 Second St. — Certificate of appropriateness granted for exterior renovations to the commercial building owned by Brent Meyer.
- 186 Culver St. — Certificate of appropriateness granted for a fence, but a proposed new parking pad was denied. The Design Review Board also asked that the porch railings be reinstalled vertically instead of horizontally and P&Z agreed.
- 2761 Suwanee Ave. — Homeowner William Nadal was granted permission to replace windows, siding and the front door to historic district specifications.
- 3742 Vineville Ave. — Addition and renovations approved for a State Farm Insurance office.
- 2764 Cherokee Ave. — P&Z approved the design of Kayandra Morgan’s two accessory buildings and fence in this historic district.
- 135 Lamar St. — P&Z granted conditional use approval for Ace Medical Transport to operate an office and store up to 12 company vehicles on the property. Commissioners asked the owner to leave as much of the existing landscape buffer as possible to shield the rear parking area from neighboring homes.
- 6386 Thomaston Road — The Slaughter family received approval to plat a portion of the property not facing a right-of-way. They want to adjust parcels to align with an existing well and allow for construction of two new family dwellings.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
