Congregation members of the House of Refuge tried to appease neighborhood opposition for a new church off Houston Road, but could not overcome fears that new construction would exacerbate persistent flooding in south Bibb County.
More than two dozen neighbors joined several church members at Monday’s packed house for the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission, which also drew a crowd from Lizella concerned about proposed rezoning to allow commercial development near their homes.
After P&Z staff recommended denial of the church project at 6045 Cara Drive at the Sept. 9 meeting, developer Tony Widner requested a deferral to Oct. 14 to revise plans to alleviate objections to the entrance passing between two homes in the 6100 block of Houston Road and a larger than necessary parking lot complicating drainage issues.
Widner added a wooden privacy fence and landscaping buffers near the entrance, removed 40 parking places and positioned the church building closer to Houston Road, which cut down on pavement and provided better drainage.
House of Refuge’s First Lady Theresa Walker addressed the commission.
“We come in peace. We’re doing everything we can to accommodate the neighbors that our project manager advised,” Walker said.
The church, which currently worships on Log Cabin Drive, was looking to move closer to its members like Tim Shelley, who donated the land for the new 11,600-square-foot building.
“The problem that our neighbors are having, I don’t think is something we will contribute to,” Shelley said.
In 2009, P&Z rezoned the parcel from residential to agricultural because the land does not drain, has no sanitary sewer and it is not suitable for houses.
A petition with 25 signatures against the project was entered into the record and half-dozen people spoke in opposition including county commissioners Bill Howell and Valerie Wynn, who also serve on the Macon Water Authority. The authority has a fix for the persistent stormwater flooding in Nowell Estates, but all property owners have not yet signed off on the necessary easements for a retention pond.
Neighbor Jim Chevalley presented a map of the drainage ditches which showed runoff from the church property would likely flow to his street which has been plagued by flooding since the widening of Houston Road.
Since taking over stormwater management from the county, the water authority has cleared ditches and improved drainage in his neighborhood, but Hurricane Helene’s heavy rain filled ditches to the brink of flooding.
“We don’t need any more water,” Chevalley said.
Although neighbors said they did not oppose the church itself, they worried about any new construction.
“What I hear is that the church is welcome, it’s just the impact that it’s going to make on the land,” P&Z Commissioner Kesia Stafford said. “Any building that will go on the property is going to impact it until the water resolution is finalized.”
Commissioners Tim Jones and Mindy Attaway agreed and the board unanimously denied the church’s application.
P&Z Chair Jeane Easom said any new construction would add to the drainage issues until the Macon Water Authority fixes the problems.
“I think the church can come back maybe after all that’s fixed. Now I think it’s only adding to the problem,” Easom said.
Northway Church did not have many hurdles to clear in its planned expansion at 5915 Zebulon Road, but did have to agree to set back any buildings 50 feet from the property line before receiving unanimous approval.
Triple Point Engineering’s Dan Wallace said adding the new 39,200-square-foot worship center with seating for 1,100 will accommodate the growing congregation that overflows the current 800-seat sanctuary.
“We’re excited our church is growing and thriving and we are out of space and need more,” Wallace said.
He indicated the church was willing to do whatever necessary to handle additional stormwater runoff from the project, whether it was expanding the current retention pond or adding more expensive underground drainage.
Lizella residents oppose warehouses
More than a dozen people signed up to speak against rezoning for the proposed Jordan Business Park featuring warehouses and light industrial offices off Eisenhower Parkway at 3490 Tidwell Road.
Andrew Lambert, who grew up in Lizella but lives in Chattanooga, and engineer Steven Rowland submitted plans for a dozen 10,000-square-foot buildings with loading docks on more than 14 acres that once belonged to Lambert’s late grandmother.
They sought rezoning from agricultural to planned development commercial to allow Lambert to build the park, which he plans to do in phases.
Lambert intends to move the Good Guys Moving & Delivery company from Ivey Drive into the first building, but no timetable was included for construction and other potential businesses have yet to be identified.
The project also would have to be reviewed by the Georgia Department of Transportation for access off U.S. Hwy. 80, but it was a secondary driveway off Tidwell Road that came under P&Z’s scrutiny as “not a good idea.”
Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Raymond Wilder led the line of opposing voices after receiving numerous phone calls from families living nearby.
“Three sides of that property is already residential or will be,” Wilder said. “When they bought their properties it was zoned agricultural and they want it to stay that way.”
Residents were concerned about heavy trucks, increased traffic and the effect of the development on property values.
“You just don’t want a commercial property in your front yard,” said neighbor Angela Grier.
Betty Sue Lang moved from south Macon to the quiet of Burns Drive 48 years ago and knew Lambert’s grandparents and great-grandparents.
“I enjoyed a nice quiet neighborhood and would like to keep it that way,” Lang said. “Andrew, I really don’t believe this is the right thing to do and I oppose it.”
In the rebuttal time, Lambert said he cares about the neighborhood and agreed to leave an untouched natural buffer between the neighborhood and the business park, remove the Tidwell Road driveway and keep all the traffic on Eisenhower Parkway.
“If this doesn’t get passed, then what is the use for this land?” Lambert asked. “This is going to be beneficial to all the new residents who have to have a place to run their businesses out of.”
Easom noted that traffic counts along Eisenhower Parkway are lower than they had been over the past decade. Commissioners also realized the business park would generate far fewer vehicle trips than new homes.
As the commission debated compromise measures, vocal outbursts from the audience almost resulted in opposition members being physically removed from the hearing room.
With the Tidwell Road entrance off the table, Stafford felt she could support it if the additional buffer was added.
“Most of them had complaints on Tidwell Road, so it satisfies my mind,” she said.
The commission agreed to approve the project with a 100-foot buffer between Tidwell Road, neighboring houses and the business park.
Because of the planned development commercial designation, any proposed use for buildings in the park would require future P&Z approval.
Disgruntled residents moved their conversations outside the hearing room and pledged to be back for future hearings on the project.
Other agenda items
- Ocmulgee East Blvd and Marion Road — P&Z approved the expansion of Arcilla Mining & Land’s kaolin mine by 100 acres. The current site has 525 acres in Twiggs County and 95 acres in Macon-Bibb County.
- 685, 705, 735 Millerfield Road — Aboveground storage of propane cylinders for Florigas was approved on 1.77 acres of three adjacent parcels of land in a wholesale and light industrial zone.
- 7519 NE Industrial Blvd. — P&Z approved aboveground chemical storage tanks at Solenis, which runs an adjacent chemical manufacturing facility. The company plans to produce and distribute peracetic acid, which is a sanitizing agent used in the food industry, according to the application.
- 5986, 5898 Moseley Dixon Road — Rowland Engineering secured permission to alter plans for higher density, single-family homes originally approved in 2022. The new plan adds six additional residential lots for a total of 45, which reduces the open space by 2.26 acres. Rowland plans to repair a dam on the property and restore pond as an amenity for residents.
- 3311 Pio Nono Ave. — Lastacia Calhoun was approved for an auto sales business with less than 10 vehicles for sale at any given time.
- 513 Plum St. — Jarvis Willis is allowed to remove dead Italian cypress trees from the property and replace them. P&Z recommended he remove all the trees and work with staff to replace them with something suitable.
- 2570 Vineville Ave. — Certificate of appropriateness granted for replacement of windows in a historic district.
- 5430 Bowman Road — American Oncology Network approved to open a cancer symptom management facility in the old Ambitions fitness center building.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
