The commission also unanimously approved what is believed to be the largest residential development in Athens history: 396 single-family homes, 216 townhouses and 313 apartments off Atlanta Highway near Bogart.
The nod came over the objections of professional planners and the planning commission, an appointed advisory board, who said the latest version of the plans deviate too far from the original mixed-use New Urbanist vision for the project, originally known as Winslow Park. It was first approved in 2004 but never got off the ground due to the 2008 housing crash, and has been amended several times since. The latest iteration, proposed by national homebuilder D.R. Horton, ditches bespoke architecture for cookie-cutter designs and lacks walkability because there’s no longer a commercial component, according to critics.
But Commissioner Stephanie Johnson, who represents the area, said she found planning commissioners’ comments to be “subjective,” and decided to visit other D.R. Horton developments herself. “They look like people who work hard are living there,” she said at the June 3 meeting. “There were pluses and minuses, but things were fixable, I think in the grand scheme of things.”
Johnson also held a town hall meeting on the plans. “Surprisingly, there were many people who were in support of it, and specifically stated thank you for the opportunity to add this because we need that,” she said.
“I consistently hear us talk about adding housing stock, adding housing variety, and I think supporting this does those two things,” she added.
Commissioner Melissa Link agreed that any flaws in the plan were outweighed by a need for more housing. “I think this is a good opportunity to get a lot of modest, owner-occupied, middle-class housing on the market,” she said.
In other business, the commission:
• tabled a 300-house subdivision on Newton Bridge Road near Vincent Drive. Commissioner Ovita Thornton said she was prepared to move to deny the rezoning request, but decided to delay a vote until June 10 so she could meet with the developer.
• allowed developers to withdraw plans for an office building on Gaines School Road and a senior living facility on Whit Davis Road.
• tabled a proposal to build student housing on two ACC-owned parking lots off Jackson Street in exchange for affordable housing funding and a new sewer line serving north downtown. A vote on that project is also scheduled for June 10.
• voted to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation to convert a $25 million grant for North Avenue into a much smaller planning grant because the county is unlikely to meet a deadline to start construction.
• redesignated $3 million in SPLOST funds for a youth facility in the West Broad neighborhood toward a park in Johnson’s District 6 or Thornton’s District 9, rejecting a staff proposal for a gym at Howard Park (formerly Rocksprings). The money was originally intended to renovate the historic West Broad School for a facility run by the Athens Land Trust, but the Clarke County School District was not interested in handing over the vacant property.
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