A Macon-Bibb County commissioner was ordered out of Monday’s Planning & Zoning Commission for repeatedly speaking out during a packed hearing that resulted in Hall Road rezoning and approval for townhouses at Bass and Rivoli.
District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart was the first of four people to speak against Rowland Engineering’s rezoning request for 18.25 acres of a nearly 40-acre property at 1425 Hall Road to allow for an automobile auction.
The matter was postponed from July 14 when P&Z overruled neighbors’ objections and approved a companion proposal for rezoning 15.35 adjacent acres from multi-family residential to general commercial at 4440 Riverside Drive.
Descendants of former slave Andrew D. Tolliver, who live along Hall and Forest Hill roads, said they are opposed to the continuing commercial encroachment on their neighborhood, so engineer Steve Rowland asked that the matter be deferred until Aug. 25 to allow for a redesign to address some of the concerns.
Monday, as P&Z’s commissioners discussed the redesigned proposal and appeared to be leaning toward approval despite P&Z staff’s recommended denial, Stewart continued to speak out from the front row despite warnings from Chair Jeane Easom.
“Stanley, I’m not going to put up with it,” Easom said.
As the discussion on the dais continued, Stewart persisted in voicing his displeasure about the rezoning.
“I may be out of line, but unacceptable, totally,” Stewart commented out loud, which prompted Easom to show him the door.
“Get out of here,” she said.
“I’ll go,” Stewart said, but continued to speak and left with this threat: “I’m just telling you, you’d better make the right decision, or if not, I’ll have the media back here at full strength.”
Stewart’s passionate objection echoed that of his close friend Asha Ellen, who lives across the street from 1425 Hall Road.
Ellen, the executive director of Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful, argued that changing the current multi-family residential zoning to general commercial is inconsistent with P&Z’s 2050 Future Land Use Plan for urban residential, which staff noted in its recommended denial along with issues of having two zoning districts on the nearly 40-acre tract as it exists now.
“We, the citizens of Hall Road, are asking this Planning and Zoning Commission to be true to what you put on paper. The applicant’s proposed rezoning of this parcel is not consistent with the 2050 Macon Bibb County future land use plan and should be denied,” Ellen said.
Forest Hill Road resident Mike Sheftall presented photos of the Houston Auto Auction showing dozens of cars along Pio Nono Avenue.
“I cannot imagine the eight to 10 people that live on Hall Road facing that every morning when they wake up,” Sheftall said.
Easom explained that vehicles will not be lined up fronting the road, as shown in the pictures, and will be even deeper into the property under this revised plan.
Since July, Rowland Engineering reduced the more than 1,080-space vehicle staging area to 728 spaces, shifted the 12,000-square-foot sales building farther back off Hall Road, added a 20-foot landscape buffer and Georgia Power easement between the business and the street.
“Whoever lives across the street, when they look out their window, they’re going to see the same thing today as they will when this is done,” Easom said.
The wholesale business would not be open to the public and auctions will be held inside the sales building, so noise was not expected to be a concern, Rowland said.
He displayed a zoning map that shows the commercial creep from Riverside Drive where multiple automobile dealerships are now in place, including the new Butler Collision Center directly across from one of the proposed entrances at 1425 Hall Road.
In further concessions made after public comments and discussion, Rowland agreed to a right turn only exit onto Hall Road to prevent car haulers from turning toward the homes, and will replat the property so there would not be two different zoning distinctions.
P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri said his staff would make sure the lighting on the property be kept within regulations curtailing excessive light pollution.
Tim Jones was the sole opponent in the 4-1 vote and wanted it on record that the commission was voting against the staff’s recommended denial.
As Ellen and her group of nearly two dozen residents, family members and friends left the room, she said: “We come from descendants of a man who was enslaved. This ain’t over.”
Townhomes, furniture distribution center
About the same number of people showed up to oppose rezoning to allow 36 townhomes in a private, gated community on about 10 acres at the corner of Bass Road and Rivoli Drive.
Some of them were there in January to oppose P&Z’s rezoning of the 66 acres across the street for the first phase of Truitt Preserve. The same developer received approval for a mixed neighborhood of 68 residences including a few estate-sized lots, nearly two dozen building sites up to an acre, and five clusters of six townhomes, that neighbors also opposed in January.
Monday, Easom made the same observation as she did when P&Z approved the Truitt Preserve plans — Macon is running out of available land.
“We gotta go up and we gotta go dense. So this, as Mr. Rowland has presented, is a very upscale facility. I think it’s well planned, and I think the price point will make it stay that way,” Easom said.
Rowland Engineering presented house designs similar to the Avalon development in Sandy Springs where townhomes are priced starting at $600,000 and compared it to a similar walled in community off Forsyth Road near Idle Hour Country Club.
Many of the nearby neighbors around Bass Road live in houses on much larger lots and are concerned about increased traffic congestion, and that what they see on paper is not what they’re going to get.
P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri said they can stop construction if builders deviate from the approved plans.
There were also concerns about future commercial use because a corner parcel is not included in the rezoning from agriculture to two-family residential. Ruggieri said future use would require either another rezoning or additional conditional approval for a limited number of smaller commercial uses.
Retired Howard High School coach Danny Slaughter testified that although Rowland said the townhomes are likely to be bought by empty-nesters, that’s no guarantee there won’t be school-aged children living there.
“If it does add to the student population, who knows if the school board will rezone or we would just have to deal with the overcrowding. I can attest now that at Howard High, we are overcrowded. The middle school has nearly as many students as the high school does,” Slaughter said.
Rowland also explained that the land’s purchase price of $1.4 million requires more density to make the project feasible.
Kesia Stafford, a builder herself, supported the project in the unanimous vote for approval.
“I’ve seen these types of developments, mainly in the Atlanta area. They’re beautiful,” Stafford said. “I know that shakes a lot of people up. Density is not fun, but it’s happening.”
Across town on Cavalier Drive, Rowland Engineering also secured approval without debate for
a new furniture warehouse, distribution center and retail outlet at 4521 & 4555 Cavalier Drive.
The $100 million plan for Bob’s Discount Furniture’s first Georgia location combines two parcels into one tract for construction of a 800,000-square foot distribution warehouse with room for a potential expansion of 500,000 additional square feet.
The project includes a 10,000 retail outlet center that will be open everyday from 9 a.m.until 9 p.m. The distribution center would operate around the clock and would initially employ 288 people with an additional 137 hires possible with an expansion.
Bob’s was founded in Connecticut in 1991 and currently has stores in 26 states.
Other agenda items
- 476 Second St. – Craig Wysong is headed back to the Design Review Board seeking a compromise for plans for opaque windows on the front of the Social Duck. DRB rejected his proposal due to Central Business District guidelines, but P&Z commissioners believed the review board might be able to come up with a new design that could help alleviate the glaring afternoon sun that enters the business.
- 974 Cherry St. – P&Z approved William Aultman’s plans for repairs to the front porch of his 1830 historic home, which was once owned by Macon’s second mayor, Judge Edward Door Tracy.
- 1073 Georgia Ave. – Stephani and John Chipley Jr. received a certificate of appropriateness to make modifications to the retaining wall of their home, pending GDOT approval of any issue concerning the right-of-way.
— 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.
