Several Athens residents at the Athens Planning Commission meeting spoke against a developer’s request to change the location of his two-phase, multifamily development because they said the matter had been settled in 2018.

The Planning Commission voted to partially approve a request by Land LD Athens Lindsay Lane LLC to amend its existing master plan of multifamily rezoning. The development in question is on 23.50 acres west of Lindsay Lane south and immediately north of Whitfield Colony Subdivision in an R2 Multiple-Family Residential District.

The developer had asked for permission to add carports and garages, to reorient the clubhouse and to move the first phase from Kelli Drive to Lindsay Lane.

In December 2018, Athens City Council members approved the master development plan in which the first phase of multifamily development was off Kelli Drive and the second phase was off Lindsay Lane. One of the issues at the time was giving the city time to try to deal with mounting traffic congestion on Lindsay Lane.

Citizens oppose

Several residents of Whitfield subdivision spoke sharply against the developer’s request to rephase the development.

“Citizens were really in a uproar over the original request, and we negotiated with the council and the developer, who lent concessions,” Garrett Crask said. “The reason the phases were flipped was to give the City Council time to deal with Lindsay Lane. We negotiated with the developer and we had an agreement — Phase 1 should come off Kelli Drive and Phase 2 off Lindsay Lane at a later date.”

Another woman was even more forceful, saying, “If they start on Lindsay Lane, it will be a nightmare of traffic. They agreed to Phase 1 off Kelli Drive. We need to stick to what we agreed to or they need to go away.”

The decision

Planning commissioners partially approved the request, giving the go-ahead for carports, garages and reorientation of the clubhouse but rejecting a switch of the development phases.

Those voting were Chairwoman Gina Garth; Vice Chairman Rick Johnson; Commissioner Robert Malone; Commissioner Ronnie Marks, who is the commission’s City Council representative and Athens mayor; and Commissioner Bryan Thornton, who is the commission’s city administration representative and Athens fire chief.

Commissioners Jerold Blaxton, Venard Hendrix and Roderick Herron were unable to attend the meeting but may have been watching online, as the city live-streamed the meeting and work session on YouTube due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The matter will now go to the Athens City Council, which will vote on the request at its Monday, March 23, meeting. The commission will ask the council to approve the carports, garages and clubhouse reorientation but reject the rephasing.

Whether the council meeting will occur Monday is unclear. On Thursday afternoon, the city closed all buildings to the public due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Should the council meeting occur, residents will be provided a way to view it online in order to maintain the social distancing requested by health officials. The city acknowledged it cannot ban residents from a public meeting, but it can reject admittance to certain individuals based on health concerns and it will do so.

Estate matter

In other action, the commission voted 4-1 on Billy Strain’s request that the commission recommend to Athens City Council approval to rezone a total of 63 acres from an Estate Agricultural and Residential District to 56 acres for R-1-3 Single Family High Density Residential District and 7 acres for B-2 General Business District. The property is located at 404 Strain Road, southeast of the intersection of U.S. 31 and south of Strain Road. A public hearing was held prior to the vote.

Johnson cast the lone vote against the request because he has been told some high-density development did not come out the way they had been told it would or the city has not been consistent with this pattern of development.

“It has the potential to destroy some of the estate-style homes we have today,” Johnson said.

The commission voted separately on the requests by Land LD Athens Lindsay Lane LLC and by property owner Billy Strain. The rest of its agenda was approved in one vote. You can find that story on page 3A of today’s edition.