Wednesday, May 2, 2001
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Wednesday, May 2, 2001 |
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Whitewater expansion denied
By
DAVE HAMRICK
Whitewater Creek Country Club won't be getting 60 new members after all. County commissioners last week voted 3-1, with commission Chairman Greg Dunn opposed, to deny Cypress Development Corp.'s request to make 127.5 acres at Redwine and Bernhard roads part of the Whitewater Planned Unit Development. PUD is a zoning designation designed to encourage creativity and extra green space in subdivision development. It allows more leeway on housing density. Commissioners last week said they didn't feel the Cypress proposal met the definition of a PUD. "You have a gazebo and you have some open space, but I would think a PUD would have more amenities than that," said Commissioner Herb Frady. Defining amenities proved a catch-22 for the project. Developers pointed to the ability of its residents to be members of the country club as a valuable amenity, but a resident pointed out that the country club is not owned by the Whitewater Creek Homeowners Association it's owned as a private business by developer Robert Brooks. "I see nothing extraordinary" to qualify the proposed development as a PUD, said Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham. Chairman Dunn said he felt the development could stand alone as a PUD, adding that, if added to Whitewater, it would in fact have the only amenities in the entire community owned by the homeowners. Commissioners approved two other rezoning requests: A request from 3D Properties to rezone 8.1 acres on Ga. Highway 54 west from A-R to O-I (office-institutional) to allow a medical office. Lynn Fedor's request for O-I zoning on three quarters of an acre on Hwy. 54 east at Plantation Drive. Fedor hopes to develop an insurance/financial planning office. Two other developers took advantage of the commissioners' decision to suspend normal rules and allow zoning petitioners to delay their petitions until a new commissioner is chosen to replace Harold Bost, who resigned recently. Delaying their requests until July 26 were: Mukut Gupta, requesting a change from A-R, which requires five-acre building lots, to R-72, which requires two-acre lots, for 40.5 acres on Old Senoia Road. Gupta plans to build 18 homes. Charles L. Pailer, who wants to rezone his historic home and five acres from A-R to C-H (highway commercial) to develop a shopping center. The request has drawn stiff neighborhood opposition and the county Planning Commission recommended that the land's zoning be changed to O-I instead of C-H.
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