Descendants of former slave Andrew D. Tolliver oppose commercial rezoning on a portion of the 200 acres he purchased as a free man between 1894 and 1907 in north Macon.
Several neighbors spoke out during July meetings of the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission as Rowland Engineering seeks to rezone nearly 23 acres of a nearly 40-acre parcel at 1425 Hall Road that connects to another 15.35 acres off 4440 Riverside Drive.
At its July 14 meeting, P&Z approved rezoning the Riverside parcel from multi-family residential to general commercial to allow for a proposed auto auction sales lot with 1,080 vehicle staging spaces, a 12,000-square-foot sales building and an auto detailing facility.
The accompanying application for the Hall Road site was deferred at the applicant’s request until July 28, but Steven Rowland was not ready Monday and requested the item be postponed again until Aug. 25.
More than a dozen neighbors showed up in opposition on Monday, so they were given an opportunity to speak, including Tolliver’s granddaughter Barbara Tolliver Rodgers, who lives on Forest Hill Road.
More than 40 years ago, Rodgers also opposed rezoning acreage across her street from agricultural to multi-family residential for new apartments that resulted in people trespassing on her property and stealing, she said.
The 86-year-old asked that commissioners protect the homeowners from this new proposed commercial encroachment.
During the July 14 meeting, Hall Road resident Nola Scott McFadden said the group was there as a family to oppose the commercial rezoning.
“We love our community. We love our neighborhood and to put a facility, or to rezone that from residential to commercial, it would really destroy our neighborhood,” McFadden said. “Please, please, I’m asking you to preserve our legacy as well as our neighborhood.”
Scott Gardzelewski, whose wife bought land 10 years ago on Hall Road for their retirement home, encouraged commissioners to attend an auto auction before deciding whether it was a good fit for the neighborhood.
“Most of the cars are not in good working order… leaking gas, oil and transmission fluid, all of which are poisonous to the environment,” Gardzelewski said as he raised concerns the runoff would make its way into the creek and ultimately the Ocmulgee River.
Because Rowland Engineering was still revising its proposal, P&Z asked that the revisions be submitted by Aug. 14 to allow the staff to evaluate before the Aug. 25 meeting. In the report, staff originally opposed the rezoning for not being consistent with the 2050 Future Land Use plan and for setting up that property to have multiple zoning categories.
In other matters during the July 14 meeting, P&Z encouraged Johnny Franklin Robertson to withdraw his application for conditional use approval for up to 50 cars on his used car lot at 6344 Zebulon Road.
Initially, he was only approved for 20 vehicles and has three pending complaints accusing him of having more vehicles on his lot and illegally parked in the right-of-way.
Although he has appeared multiple times before P&Z, Robertson did not have the lot properly surveyed for P&Z to make an informed decision as to how many cars can safely fit on the land. He agreed to withdraw and resubmit an application once he has a survey and can show a site plan for the property.
Another applicant finally found success after making several trips over the past year to P&Z’s Design Review Board as she repeatedly tweaked her proposed accessory buildings at 2764 Cherokee Ave.
Kayandra Morgan took each recommendation and returned with updated designs until she was ultimately approved July 14.
“You’re head and shoulders above where you were,” DRB’s Trey Wood told Morgan before they made the final adjustments to her design so she could proceed with construction in her historic neighborhood.
Monday, P&Z also amended its Comprehensive Land Development Resolution that was recently upgraded in December. The amendment sets standards for townhomes and revises regulations for professional offices and clinics employing up to four people.
Staff is evaluating proposals for an update of the 2022 Comprehensive Plan that guides development in Macon-Bibb County.
P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri said the process is expected to take about 18 months once a contractor is on board.
July’s other agenda items
- 1006 Magnolia St. — Tree removal approved.
- 1901, 1905 Roderick Road — Rezoning approved from agricultural to general commercial to bring zoning into conformance with existing land use of a warehouse and accommodate expansion at Elliott Machine Shop.
- 4900 Nowell Court — Variance granted for front lot frontage.
- 840 Riverside Drive — Exterior modifications approved for new Waffle House awnings.
- 140 Buford Place — Certificate of appropriateness granted for new accessory building and fence under historic district guidelines.
- 1026 Inverness Ave. — Window modifications approved under historic district regulations.
- 192 Stonewall Place — P&Z and the Design Review Board denied the applicant’s request to replace stucco with Hardie Board siding.
- 1194 Forsyth St. — Tree removal approved.
- 5189, 5211, 5252 Sardis Church Road — Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores approved for an RV park and expansion of outdoor storage for semi-trucks.
- 791, 797 Poplar St. — Dr. Michael Dillon approved for a medical clinic/laboratory.
- 4845, 4855 Ocmulgee East Blvd. and 2050, 2060 Memory Lane — Rezoning approved from highway commercial to heavy industrial and to combine four parcels totalling 11.3 acres. Applicant plans to renovate the existing convenience store and provide 25 parking spaces for tractor trailers.
- 111, 115 Gateway Drive — Rezoning approved from planned development industrial to planned development mixed-use zoning to allow for a gymnastics facility offering classes Monday to Saturday.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or by phoning 478-301-2976.
