GAINESVILLE – It’s taken over six months but 6.15-acres along Jesse Jewell Parkway at Old Cornelia Highway is finally part of the City of Gainesville and zoned so as to allow the owner the sewer service he needs to develop his property.
Jonathan Collins, President of Capstone Property Group, LLC, and a Gainesville resident, first appeared before the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board on December 10, 2019, asking that his property be annexed into the city and then zoned Light Industrial (L-I).
Collins hoped to build a 3-story, 65,100-square feet climate controlled storage facility and a free-standing 5,400-square feet office/warehouse on the site, but the property was in a floodplain and presented topographical challenges to the developer, as well.
His initial application to the city included a comment from the city’s planning staff that said: “Significant soil erosion measures will be required to properly mitigate potential impacts to the existing stream and future flood zone area within the property.”
Collins told the city council, “We examined a lot of uses for this property. Clearly it’s got some challenges.”
Collins realized that being in a flood plane made the installation of a septic system and drain field impossible. He needed the sewer connection that properties owners within the city limits were eligible to access, hence his application for annexation into the city.
Then, because the stream mentioned above feeds Lake Lanier, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers became a part of development plans.
“The front three acres of the property is predominately in the Limestone Creek floodplain, so this project…will sit significantly off Jesse Jewell,” Collins said. “We have several permits in the works with the Corps about the stream.
Collins explained that there will be no outdoor storage of anything on the property and the storage building will have from 130 to 150 interior–access units when finished.
Collins agreed to all the conditions attached to his application and the city council approved his annexation and rezoning applications unanimously. Collins says construction should begin once talks with the USACE are concluded, sometime near the end of the calendar year.
