Gainesville Council gets rezoning final briefing

GAINESVILLE – The final hurdle for a much-discussed rezoning request will probably happen at Tuesday night’s Gainesville City Council meeting.

And at today’s work session, Council members received one last briefing on the status of the request made by America’s Home Place to rezone a 25.11-acre tract on Dawsonville Highway to allow for the construction of a 246,880-square-foot shopping complex.

Councilman George Wangeman said, "This is one thing I’ve greatly appreciate about this Council, we don’t discuss rezoning matters with each other and try to figure out how they are going to vote."

"We are independent of each other when it comes to a rezoning matter," Wangeman continued. "These are the toughest issues I think I’m confronted with as a member of the City Council."

Strong and unified opposition to the rezoning and construction plans submitted by America’s Home Place has been mounted by the homeowners’ association of the adjacent Lakeshore Heights Subdivision.

Community Development Director Rusty Ligon pointed to a map of the project and told Council, "As long as I have been doing this we have never proposed any stiffer conditions as far as buffers and trees are concerned as we have for this one."

"How many dollars in trees are they going to plant?" asked Mayor Danny Dunagan.

"It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars," replied Ligon.

"We have put in lots and lots and lots of time with the developer and the homeowners, and gone over every issue," Ligon said.

"That’s pretty much what, I think, the city council is called upon to do," Wangeman said, "to make a decision that’s good for the community."

City Manager Kip Padgett added, "It is the regional center for Hall County."

"Nobody needs to think that this is a 'done-deal'", Councilwoman Myrtle Figueras said. "Sometimes people get that idea from media reports, but you never know."

The answer comes Tuesday, March 5, at 5:30 at the Gainesville Public Safety Complex on Queen City Parkway.