A revised plan setting
special development standards along the U.S. 411 corridor met with
little support at a Thursday night unveiling.
Click here to view the draft of the overlay district plan
“This is putting a burden on 411 (property owners) that you’re
not putting on everybody else,” Melvin Alred said.
Floyd County Commission Chairman Jerry Jennings said the plan
will likely be tweaked again before any formal hearings are
announced.
“This is not a done deal,” he told the nearly 30 landowners who
attended a town hall meeting to discuss the proposed zoning overlay
district between the Ledbetter Interchange and the Bartow County
line. “We are listening to you.”
While much of the land is vacant or farmed, interest from
developers has been heating up, and planners want to head off a sea
of pavement broken by curb cuts and traffic signals.
Landscaping, deeper setbacks, limited access, buffers and brick
or masonry buildings with architectural features are cornerstones of
the overlay district proposal.
A presentation from Rome-Floyd County Planning Director Sue
Hiller included pictures of two new Wal-Marts: the standard blue and
red supercenter on 411 and the landscaped brick one in Rockmart.
“You say if we impose higher standards we wouldn’t get
development like Wal-Mart,” Assistant County Manager Blaine Williams
said to the crowd. “But Rockmart got a pretty good-looking one, and
Wal-Mart didn’t balk.”
