Friday, January 31, 2003

Annexations approved for Fairburn

By ALISA KING
Special to The Citizen

Fairburn will now have more industrial property in its city limits.

During Monday's City Council meeting, the City Council voted to approve annexations and zoning requests for Simmons Vedder.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners recently filed an objection to an industrial classification for the property based on their Land Use Plan which determined that the land belongs to Fulton County.

However, the objection was made after the 21-day response period required by the Intergovernmental Agreement for Annexation.

Simmons Vedder and Company asked Fairburn officials to annex two parcels located at the southwest corner of I-85 and Bohannon Road into the city and rezone the property M-1 Light Industrial.

The parcels are 4.32 acres and 78.33 acres for a total of 82.65 acres.

They are currently zoned AG Agricultural in Fulton County and the Land Use Plan indicates a proposed low-density residential use.

The company is proposing to develop the property with offices and warehouses. The initial phase of development is for a 504,000 square foot facility for a Fortune 500 company.

The council approved the annexation and zoning with several conditions:

Detailed site plans shall be submitted to the City for approval prior to any actual development of the property;

The portion of Creekwood Road which is next to the property shall be improved to industrial road standards from the westernmost property line to the Bohannon Road intersection.

The portion of Bohannon Road which is adjacent to the property shall be improved to industrial road standards from the southernmost property line to the I-85 overpass;

Industrial road standards require a minimum right-of-way of 60 feet, with two 12-foot travel lanes, and concrete curb and gutter sections on both sides of the road.

The developer shall create and maintain a buffer at least 200 feet wide along any property line that is next to existing occupied residential property.

It may be permissible to substitute a minimum 50-foot wide enhanced buffer that would provide for reasonable visual and functional separation between any incompatible land uses, subject to the approval of the City Administrator;

All required road and buffer improvement shall be done at no cost to the City and shall be completed prior to the occupancy of any of the proposed uses on the property; and

Truck traffic shall be prohibited on Bohannon Road south of Oakley Industrial Boulevard and on Creekwood Road west of the property.