Athens-Clarke County commissioners were somewhat skeptical of a massive new subdivision off Atlanta Highway and a senior living facility on the Eastside at their Apr. 15 agenda-setting meeting.
Winslow Park has been on the books since 2004 and amended three times, but it was never built. Now national homebuilder D.R. Horton owns the property and wants to add to the residential density and reduce the variety of housing without building any commercial. The company is asking to build 925 units—396 detached homes, 216 townhouses and 313 apartments. There will be little greenspace, homes will be on alleys rather than streets, and only two types of houses and two types of townhouses will be offered, Planning Director Bruce Lonnee said.
“This represents a departure from the previous New Urbanist design,” he said. “Essentially, this is density without the other design principles associated with the current [planned development].”
Landscape architect Scott Haines told the commission that the development will preserve greenspace “and most importantly, it will provide homes.” Prices will range from $250,000 to more than $400,000, he said. D.R. Horton and W&A Engineering are asking for six waivers to the zoning code.
However, Commissioner Melissa Link said that “desperation” for affordable housing should not force the commission to accept projects that do not meet the community’s standards.
Commissioner Patrick Davenport expressed concerns about the development’s impact on public schools. Cleveland Road Elementary has one of the lowest enrollments in the county, according to Commissioner Dexter Fisher, a former CCSD employee. District officials continually monitor new development in case schools need to be built or expanded, said Commissioner Allison Wright, who sits on a SPLOST board for the district.
The area’s representative, Commissioner Stephanie Johnson, had similar concerns. Winslow Park would add another 900 units to the 2,200 already slated to go up on Atlanta Highway in the next few years, she said. Yet she said there is only one grocery store, Publix. (In addition, Atlanta Highway has an Aldi and a Walmart Neighborhood Market.) Girtz said that commercial development will follow the “heads in beds.”
A proposal for 52 age-restricted (55 and up) units on Whit Davis Road near Southeast Clarke Park would use federal tax credits for low-income housing to keep rents affordable, but the developer has not yet received the tax credits. While Athens needs housing for seniors, commissioners noted that, if the straight rezone request were approved, any sort of multifamily development could be built there. “They could rezone it, sell it to someone else, and we get student housing,” Davenport said.
The commission will also vote May 6 on a special use permit for First United Methodist Church to build a parking lot downtown. The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend denial, but the county commission is likely to approve the permit as part of a legal agreement with the church. The commission controversially voted last month to remove the church-owned Saye Building from the West Downtown Historic District, created in 2020 to protect historic properties on that side of downtown after First UMC applied for a demolition permit in 2018.
“There’s absolutely nothing here that complies with our land use or our zoning,” Link said. “This is a terrible use for an urban downtown piece of property. The planning commission agrees. Staff agrees. They agreed seven years ago, they agree now.”
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