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Massive senior complex proposed: 3,000 homes planned for former farm land in the heart of Fayette

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

One of the nation’s largest homebuilders has designs on turning the heart of Fayette County into a massive retirement community containing as many as 6,000 residents.

The Citizen has learned that Pulte Homes wants to build 3,000 residential units on the Rivers and Trammell property that lies just north of Ga. Highway 54. The site comprises rolling pasture and wooded land adjacent to the Piedmont Fayette Hospital that until now has been used for farming and raising cattle.

The new community would be for homeowners 55 and older and offer a host of amenities. Such a use would mean minimal impact on the county’s school system, developers contend.

The proposed development, one of the single largest in the county’s history, also would require a rezoning with unprecedented density for the unincorporated areas of Fayette County.

A local land development company has written an entirely new zoning classification just for the development and plans to ask the Fayette County Commission to revise its zoning regulations to accommodate the new rules on higher density.

Along with the homes, Pulte also has plans to build a golf course, a clubhouse and possible commercial buildings on the property, along with building a private septic system that would serve the massive development.

The community that would be built on the rolling pasture land would be similar to the Sun City retirement communities that a division of Pulte Homes, Del Webb, has so successfully built around the country for the last 45 years.

The development would target the estimated 10,000 active adult households in Fayette County. But with some estimates saying that number could increase by 1,000 per year for the next four years and continue increasing at a similar rate through 2030, the county is rapidly becoming a retirement haven for the well-heeled.

“As I understand it, the homes would be built on 700 acres, after you subtract the land for the infrastructure, golf course and septic system, so you’re looking at about four homes to an acre,” said Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

Dunn and his fellow commissioners will get a first glance at the proposal during their 3:30 p.m. meeting April 6.

A representative from Pulte Homes had an exploratory meeting with officials at the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority last week. The development would have to be reviewed by GRTA as a Development of Regional Impact.

Officials at the transportation super-agency said as soon as official plans are filed with the county, their review will begin.

Since there is nothing comparable in Fayette County’s zoning ordinances, an application has been filed to create a whole new text amendment that would allow for a residential mixed-use category.

“We would have to change about 12 sections of our ordinances for this development to comply, so they have come up with a new ordinance,” Dunn said.

Rochester & Associates is calling for the county to add a Planned Age Qualified Community into its current set of ordinances.

According to its Web site, Rochester is a relationship-based land development solutions provider with 180 team members providing civil engineering, land surveying and project management services from four Georgia offices.

The company’s Fayetteville office works with clients that are looking to develop on the Southside of Atlanta. The company is an expert in master planning, and some of its master-planned communities include SummerGrove in Newnan and the new Atlantic Station project under construction in Midtown Atlanta.

The Planned Age Qualified Community text amendment, according to Rochester’s proposal, would provide a housing option for citizens who see the size of their households decrease. It would offer a mixed-use adult community that meets all the standards of the Fair Housing Act.

Permitted uses in the community would include single-family homes, accessory buildings, two-family homes and townhomes.

Other uses allowed would be a restaurant, on-site real estate office and convenience store. The convenience store could have a maximum of 2,500 sq. feet for each 300 homes in the development. At 3,000 units, that would max out a store at around 25,000 square feet.

The test amendment would also permit several conditional uses, including apartments, churches, a developed recreation area, golf course and school.

Prohibited uses in the proposed zoning amendment include bus stations, commercial driving ranges, dry cleaning plants, kennels, pawn shops and tattoo parlors.

Any community applying for the new category would require at least 100 acres and have access to an arterial road. The text amendment sets the maximum density at one unit per gross acre if there is no sewer available, but three units per acre if public or private sewer is offered.

Commercial development would be limited to 10,000 square feet of office and retail for each 300 homes built in the community.

The text amendment would also establish exterior setbacks for any proposed buildings in the development. No buildings would be allowed within 100 feet of the right of way of a state highway or 75 feet of the right of way of a county collector highway. The closest a building could come to any county road is 50 feet.

The amendment also requires a 50-foot planted buffer to separate any permitted use from any A-R or residential zoning district and require all utilities to be placed underground.

One of the interesting components of the text amendment lies near the end of the document. While it calls for complying with all the county’s ordinances, it also asks for “flexibility.”

“Where the developer can demonstrate an ability to meet or exceed the overall intent of specific ordinances, flexibility will be granted as to compliance with the letter of these ordinances,” the amendment reads.

The proposal also requires a minimum of 2,500 square feet of open space per lot for open space, which could include parks, golf courses and other amenities.

The final section of the amendment concerns the development agreement, which gives a lot of power to the Board of Commissioners.

“The Board of Commissioners shall have the authority and discretion to execute and amend jointly with the developer over time any such development agreement and amendments required to satisfy the board as to the ability of the developer to execute the contemplated plan,” the amendment reads.

Chairman Dunn said the board will do its normal close scrutiny of the proposal.

“You’re talking about a development that will have a bigger population than Tyrone. It would have a huge impact on this county.”

The county’s land use map currently calls for development in the area to be rural residential or low density residential with a minimum two-acre homesite.