Sunday, November 15, 2015

Oconee County Planning Commission To Hear Rezone Request For Corporate Campus For Zaxby’s

Daniells Bridge Road Site

The Oconee County Planning Commission tomorrow night will review plans for a $42 million corporate campus on Daniells Bridge Road that will provide a new headquarters for Zaxby’s.

The plans are for a complex with up to five buildings on a 90-acre tract on the south side of Daniells Bridge Road just east of its intersection with the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road.

The corporate campus is proposed to include corporate offices, test kitchens, educational areas, a cafeteria, a functioning Zaxby’s private restaurant, employee gymnasium, employee daycare, and on-site storage of company vehicles.

Also proposed are walking and jogging trails, a pond or ponds, and eating and gathering areas.

Land clearance, if the project is approved by the county, is expected to begin in September or October of 2016, and completion of the first building is anticipated to be in September or October of 2018.

Rezone Request

M&T Development LLC is asking the Planning Commission to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that the county rezone four tax parcels, one of which is subdivided on tax maps, to O-B-P (Office Business Park) to allow for development of the corporate campus.

Zoning Map (Click To Enlarge)
One of those parcels already is zoned O-B-P, but the remainder are zoned either A-1 (Agriculture) or AR-1 (Agricultural-Residential One Acre).

M&T Development LLC is located at 1040 Founders Boulevard, just east of the site of the proposed corporate campus.

Zaxby’s restaurants was founded in Statesboro in 1990 by Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley, and Zaxby’s current corporate offices are at 1040 Founders Boulevard.

Zaxby’s describes itself as a “chain eatery serving up fried chicken fingers, wings, sandwiches and other American comfort eats.”

M&T Development is representing the owners of the properties not currently zoned for a business park, and the rezone narrative states that all of these properties will be combined for the project.

Site Plan

Although the narrative states that the campus will consist of up to five buildings totaling 650,000 to 700,000 square feet in space, the rezone concept plan filed with the application shows two large v-shaped buildings facing Daniells Bridge Road at an angle and with parking in front of them.

The narrative says that the first building will have approximately 120,000 square feet of space and be located on approximately 15 acres of the total 90-acre tract.

The buildings “will be based on a modern style of architecture” with a combination of glass and masonry exteriors. The buildings will be two stories high and will not exceed 55 feet in height.

Other buildings in the area, including the current corporate headquarters for Zaxby’s, are more traditional in design.

Traffic Estimates

The project when completed will have three entrances on Daniells Bridge Road.

The projected traffic count is 2,647 per day with 365 peak hour trips.

The county Utility Department has promised water and 12,000 gallons per day of sewage capacity.

Behind the buildings in the rezone concept plan is a lake of approximately two acres that will serve as a detention facility.

Joins Other Construction

The proposed project would be across the street from University Parkway Office and Technology Park and The Exchange Office Park.

Zax Inc., another company with a listed address of 1040 Founders Boulevard, currently has office space in the University Parkway Office and Technology Park.

Opposite New Headquarters

A new building is under construction in University Parkway Office and Technology Park, and two other major office facilities are under construction nearby on Virgil Langford Road.

Daniells Bridge Partners LLC, also with its legal address at 1040 Founders Boulevard, owns another 6.4-acre-parcel on Daniells Bridge Road just east of Founders Boulevard.

M&T Development owns the two parcels totaling 5.2 acres that make up the existing business park were Zaxby’s has its current corporate office.

If the project go through, companies associated with Zaxby's would own all of the land on the south side of a half-mile section of Daniells Bridge excepting a parcel occupied by Good Hands Animal Hospital.

Previous Rezones

A portion of the property was rezoned from A-1 to A-2 (now AR-1) in 1969 as part of an overall rezoning of land on each side of Daniells Bridge Road.

The property now zoned O-B-P was zoned B-2 (Highway Business) in 1990 for a shopping center and restaurants and rezoned to its current status in 2007 for two office buildings each five stories high.

The Oconee County Planning Staff has recommended approval of the newly submitted project with several conditions, including that the total floor area of the development shall not exceed 700,000 square feet.

The Planning Commission will review the request in its meeting starting at 7 p.m. in the Courthouse in Watkinsville.

The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hear the rezone request at its meeting on Dec. 1.

Property Details

Click To Enlarge
The western most tract, which is just under 29 acres in size, is owned by C.L.M. Inc. and currently is used by C.L. Morehead for a nursery.

C.L.M. Inc. also owns another parcel of 30 acres, and C.L. Morehead Jr. owns a parcel of a little more than 12 acres that is shown on tax maps as having two separate parts.

M&T Development Inc. owns the 17.5-acre-tract that currently is zoned O-B-P and has the most frontage on Daniells Bridge Road. The rear of the properties is wooded and borders on Barber Creek.

A tributary of Barber Creek forms the eastern border of parts of the tract.

Founder’s Grover subdivision sits across that tributary from the proposed development.

1 comment:

Xardox said...

Knowing Tony Townley, this will be a high-quality development.
Beats factories and strip malls.