141 homes on 157 acres on Hwy. 85 near tavern

Senoia officials will consider a 157-acre annexation along Ga. Highway 85 near the County Line Tavern, on the town’s eastern border.

The Town Council voted Monday night to accept the application but whether the annexation will be approved is still up in the air. Officials noted that the annexation proposal must be forwarded to Coweta County officials for the comments.

The proposal from Chadwick Homes is for 141 homes varying in size and several small “neighborhood commercial” stores along the highway. The company is asking for an R-40 conservation zoning, and the plan presented to council has 70 acres of open space, far more than the minimum 25 acres the city would require, according to Jerry Peterson of Peterson Planning.

Several council members indicated they would like to see Chadwick Homes acquire the tavern site and include that land as part of this new development. Company officials have had preliminary talks about purchasing that property but they didn’t want to act until they knew whether the annexation was likely to be approved, Peterson said.

The concern was that Council couldn’t annex the tavern as-is because it likely wouldn’t conform with the city’s alcohol sales restrictions. City Attorney Andrew Whalen noted that if Council did annex the tavern, it would operate according to the county's alcohol ordinance until its current permit under the county expired.

Mayor Robert Belisle suggested that Chadwick Homes secure an option to buy the parcel so the city can be comfortable that if the annexation is approved the Tavern would be torn down and rebuilt.

“I’m in the building business. I have no intention of running a beverage center,” said Chadwick Floyd of Chadwick Homes.

Town Manager Richard Ferry suggested that Council look at possibly annexing property south of this development to the town limits. He also said the Chadwick subdivision could be connected to the Ivy Ridge subdivision to allow a second way out just in case anything happened to a bridge in Ivy Ridge that’s currently under construction to access a number of homes there.