More new commercial projects on the horizon in Gainesville area

GAINESVILLE - At least three new commercial/industrial projects will go before city and county planners in Gainesville over the next couple of weeks as such activity continues to pick up locally.

The largest of them is a chicken farm and 5,000-square-foot poultry processing plant which are planned on 81 acres on Timberidge Road by Z-H Farms.

In its application, the company says "we are going to produce an all-natural, organic, antibiotic-free, free-range chicken. In order to meet customer specs we are going to process the birds on the farm. The process will be minimally mechanized. We intend to only process a few days a week. We plan to construct a 5,000+-square-foot building to process in. We will dispose of all waste properly. We plan to carry the waste to a local rendering plant."

That proposal is to go before the Hall County Planning Commission on October 15.

That's also the day the commission will be asked to consider rezoning 51 acres along Monroe Drive near Athens Highway. Rochester & Associates' wants to add outparcels along the two roads, add access from both roads and subdivide the land into the outparcels.

On Tuesday, the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board is scheduled to consider an annexation and rezoning request for 2.3 acres near the intersection of Athens Highway and Athens Street where a Family Dollar and a restaurant are proposed.