Zoning board expected to revisit several previous applications

Several items deferred from previous zoning meetings are on Monday’s agenda for the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.

Those deferrals include an apartment complex planned on Zebulon Road and a rehearing request for a previously denied application on property in south Bibb.

A Louisville, Kentucky-based company, Oracle Design Group, filed a conditional-use application to allow a 90-unit multi-family complex for seniors at 6601 Zebulon Road, adjacent to Hephzibah Children’s Home. It would include 10 one-story apartment buildings, a community building, a gazebo and picnic area.

The commission deferred the matter at the May 23 meeting, with some commissioners saying the layout needed to be changed and the buffers widened. Jim Huffstetter, who would be the project manager for the project, said during that meeting the developer was seeking tax credits for the development. The deadline to apply for the tax credits was June 9, so the status of that application is unknown.

The proposal calls for the apartments to be built on a 10-acre site. The applicant proposes a 40-foot buffer along the western property line and a 35-foot buffer along the eastern property line. Also, some of the walkways have been expanded to a width to accommodate emergency vehicles to get to the units.

It is unclear from the commission’s staff report if these and other changes to the layout will satisfy commissioners’ earlier concerns.

In another matter, the commission denied a rezoning application for 4371 Sardis Church Road at a March 28 hearing that would have rezoned nearly 22 acres from a single-family residential district to an agricultural district. Owner Stephen Fike said the property is what remains for an original farm, and he planned to clear the pastures, put up fences and plant trees and vegetables. He planned to have about six beef cattle on about 5 acres of the property.

Even though no one in the neighborhood attended the meeting to object, one commissioner said she wouldn’t want to live near where cattle were grazing. Another commissioner said he was concerned about an adjacent parcel that had been prepared for a residential subdivision, even though the project was abandoned and the property was foreclosed on by the bank in 2010.

As part of the request for the rehearing, Fike provided documents showing the current investment group that owns the abandoned subdivision has not gotten building permits to develop the property, and the group had not filed any objection to the proposed rezoning. The county engineer’s office states that no work has been done on the abandoned site since 2007 and that it is in “poor condition.”

The same developer abandoned another subdivision on Arrowhead Drive in Macon after selling three or four lots, and the lender foreclosed on the remaining undeveloped lots.

The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. in the 10th floor conference room of the Willie C. Hill Government Center Annex at 682 Cherry St.

Other items on the agenda are:

DEFERRED FROM MARCH 14 AGENDA:

2010 Riverside Drive: Conditional Use to allow retail (Dollar General) store, C-4 District. SW North Macon LLC, applicant.

CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS DEFERRED FROM PREVIOUS AGENDA:

685 Arlington Place: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow replacement of ramp, HR-3 District. Shantel King-Whitby, applicant.

DEFERRED FROM MAY 9 AGENDA:

260 Margaret Court: Conditional use to allow the continued use of an existing surface mine/borrow pit, A-Agricultural District. Preston McCallum, applicant.

6500 Zebulon Road: Conditional use to allow a multi-family development with commercial outparcels, PDE District. Cleve Cunningham, Cunningham & Co., applicant.

CONDITIONAL USES:

5650 Bloomfield Road: Conditional use to allow a telecommunication tower, C-4 District. Verizon Wireless, Baker Donelson law firm, applicant.

475 [427] Poplar St.: Conditional use to allow an entertainment facility (situation room), CBD-1 District. Sarah Choo-Yick, applicant.

3902 Northside Drive: Conditional use to allow a church in an existing building, PDC District. Ral Waltower, applicant.

2778 Riverside Drive: Conditional use to allow a package store, C-4 District. Venkat Sanjeev, applicant.

883 Burrus Road: Conditional use to allow a day care, C-4 District. Larry Manuel, applicant.

CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS:

811 Cherry Street Lane: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow design approval to re-platting of existing lots and single-family dwelling, HPD District. RDG Ventures, applicant.

283 Orange St.: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow design approval to replace exterior siding, window and doors on an existing structure, HR-3 District. Window World of Middle Georgia, applicant.

912 Magnolia St.: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow design approval of exterior modifications, HR-3 District. Robert Barthelemy, applicant.

2605 Cherokee Ave.: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow design approval of signage, HC District. Health Department, The Sign Store.

1029 Ash St.: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow design approval of new single-family dwelling, HPD-BH District. RDG Ventures LLC, applicant.

957–989 Oglethorpe St.: Certificate of Appropriateness to allow exterior modifications and demolition and reconstruction of existing building, HPD-BH District. Michael Robinson, applicant.

VARIANCES:

2427, 2409, 2441 & 2457 Bonner Gilbert Road: Variance to allow flag lot, A-Agricultural District. Beverly Janet Hinson, applicant.

6500 Zebulon Road: Variance in parking requirements, PDE District. Cunningham & Co., applicant.

541 Moss Hill Drive: Variance in setback requirements to allow a fence, PDR District. Chris Tsavatewa, applicant.

This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Zoning board expected to revisit several previous applications."