The Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday night recommended that previously approved plans for the 24-acre cleared and graded parcel on the Oconee Connector at SR Loop 10 be modified to allow for a day-care center and private kindergarten.
Landscape Architect Ken Beall told the Commission that the developer of the multi-use project has been approached by someone who wants to open a Goddard School, a preschool franchise, as part of the project.
The School will be located in a 12,510-square-foot building on a 1.5 acre lot at the corner of Virgil Langford Road and Jennings Mill Extension with access from a newly planned road to be called Research Parkway.
Beall said current overall plans for the project now include a hotel, medical facilities, an office park, and retail. The land, on the Connector across SR Loop 10 from Epps Bridge Centre, is cleared, and construction of infrastructure is underway.
No one spoke in favor or in opposition to the project, and it was approved unanimously by the Commission without discussion.
The Commission did devote considerable time to discussion of a request by the City of Bogart for approval of a Unified Development Code and land use map for the city, which is mostly in Oconee County but includes parts of Clarke County.
Guy Herring, Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement, told the Commission that the City of Bogart had initiated the changes in its zoning laws represented by the Unified Development Code.
Gavin Jordan, Bogart’s representative on the Planning Commission, spoke in opposition to the request, and he and two other Commission members voted against recommending to the Bogart Council that it approve the changes.
Six voted in favor, and the changes are scheduled to appear at the Aug. 12 meeting of the Bogart Mayor and Council.
Change Of Plans
Beall told the Commission that when developers Burgess Jennings Mill Land LLC and J.G. Griffeth Investments LLC asked for a rezone of the 23.9-acre parcel in April of 2023 they eliminated “Daycare Center” and “Private Schools: Kindergarten” as allowed uses.
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| Screen Shot Beall Before Commission 7/15/2024 |
He said the goal was to look at “uses that are allowed that you think are never going to be requested” and then “go ahead and take them out at the zoning stage.”
“And so that's what we thought we had done here,” Beall said, “but we were wrong because, as it turns out, the development of this property, a substantial portion of it will be medical related, a substantial portion of it will be offices, and then other B2 (Business Highway) uses.”
“And it really stands to reason, if there's going to be a high population of employees particularly who have children, that they would love to have the opportunity to drop their children off close to where they were rather than having to drop their kids off early and then drive further to where they're going to be working.”
When a representative of Goddard School, which Beall said does “upscale daycare centers,” approached the developers, those uses were excluded because of the condition of the earlier rezoning, necessitating the request before the Planning Commission.
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| Map Of Rezone Area |
Beall said his clients also want to reduce the amount of brick facade required for construction of the buildings to reduce construction cost.
The county planning staff, in a compromise, recommended that “At least 80 percent of all wall surfaces of all buildings shall be either brick veneer, stone veneer or glass, or a combination thereof” if those buildings are on lots facing SR Loop 10 and the Oconee Connector.
Interior lots and lots facing Virgil Langford Road must have 50 percent of exterior walls of buildings with “either brick veneer, stone veneer or glass, or combination thereof.”
The Planning Commission recommended that the Board of Commissioners, at its Aug. 6 meeting, approve the rezone request with those conditions.
Bogart Request
Herring told the Commission that the City of Bogart wants to replace existing city ordinances on stormwater management, erosion and sedimentation control, land development, zoning, and manufactured housing.
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| Screen Shot McLeroy Before Commission 7/15/2024 Jordan Last Commissioner On Right |
Adoption of the proposed Bogart Unified Development Code and Zoning Map would repeal those existing ordinances, he said.
No one spoke in favor of the change, but Ben McLeroy came forward to speak in opposition.
McLeroy said he wanted to reduce the allowed lot size, eliminate the requirement that there be a Home Owners Association in major subdivisions, change how building permits are issued, and reduce the size of the code itself.
Jordan, Bogart’s representative, said “I haven't heard what the recommendations are from either the City of Bogart or the county” about the proposed changes.
Herring responded by saying that “what you have is that final document that is being proposed by Council, and that's what was forwarded to you for your review.”
The commission voted to forward the document back to the Council, recommending approval, with Jeff Burks, Mike Floyd, Nathan Byrd, Matt Elder, Nick Hobbs, and Ann Evans voting in favor.
The three who voted in opposition were Chris Herring, Lisa Ferguson, and Jordan.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County YouTube channel.
The meeting starts at 6:29 in that video.
Presentation of the request for what is being called Research Quarter begins at 10:14 in the video.
Ken Beall began speaking at 14:24 in the video.
Discussion of the Bogart Unified Development Code begins at 24:01 in the video.
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