Cobbham residents are asking the developer of a hotel behind the former UGA President’s House on Prince Avenue to reduce the size of the building by almost two-thirds.
Gainesville-based Capstone Property Group has proposed an 88,000 square-foot, 116-room hotel on the five-acre property, with the historic house serving as a restaurant, bar and suite. The Historic Cobbham Foundation voted to support a hotel that’s about 30,000–38,000 square feet, in line with The Rivet House hotel at the Southern Mill development in Boulevard. The foundation’s board of trustees also requested a conservation easement on the rear gardens, a facade easement, valet parking, a shuttle service and guest bikes.
The Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission will discuss the proposal at its Sept. 4 meeting but not vote on a recommendation yet.
ACC’s professional planning staff said in a report that the proposal is “mostly compatible” with the county’s comprehensive plan and land use map, but that they do not support a hotel of that size. Capstone is asking for a waiver to allow a commercial business larger than 10,000 square feet, the limit for parcels zoned commercial-neighborhood, other than for medical offices. It’s also seeking a waiver allowing some off-site parking for employees, although parking for guests would be underground beneath the hotel.
“Staff is not supportive of the scale of the proposed hotel use as proposed, but finds the hotel use to be compatible with the commercial corridor and adjacent neighborhood if the scale is reduced significantly,” says the report, released Tuesday. “This reduction could also reduce the amount of required parking and possibly reduce the amount of off-site parking needed. Lack of ample parking on site is likely to lead to greater neighborhood impacts with parking on those streets occurring in locations that are closer than the offsite location.”
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