GAINESVILLE – A previously tabled application for a lake-supportive self-storage facility on Browns Bridge Road drew enough people wanting to comment in opposition to the project at Monday evening’s Hall County Planning Commission meeting that an overflow room had to be opened as temporary seating for everyone not connected to that agenda item.
Rezoning 9.862-acres at the intersection of Browns Bridge Road and Cherokee Trail from residential use to Highway Business for the purpose of a self-storage facility is not a good use of the property according to most of the residents of Cherokee Trail; however, having the gated, main entrance into the new business on the two-lane neighborhood street was especially egregious to those in attendance.
“This is a very challenging intersection today, without pulling a boat or an RV through that intersection,” Cherokee Trail resident Jacques Wonnenberg said. “If you want to make a right turn from Cherokee Trail onto Browns Bridge Road and you’ve got a trailer…you have no choice but to pull into oncoming traffic that’s coming around a blind corner.”
“I watch the school bus driver do it every day,” longtime Cherokee Trail resident John Carroll said. “The school bus driver has it down…they pull into the inbound lane on Cherokee Trail waiting for a break (in traffic)…but it brings up some interesting conflicts that happen.”
Area resident Randy Zimler pointed out a possible unsolvable problem for those turning onto Cherokee Trail and “over-shooting” the entrance into the facility. “They have no way to turn around. There is no turn-around capable of handling large vehicles, boats, etcetera.”
Cherokee Trail resident Barry Farr spoke of the steep embankment on either side of Browns Bridge Road at the intersection. “There is nowhere for that traffic to go. It’s a 40-foot embankment of to the right. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on Browns Bridge to offer an escape path for traffic coming into that area.”
Applicant Ken Henderson is proposing the construction of seven storage units on the site and told commissioners that the Georgia Department of Transportation wants the entrance into the facility to be on Cherokee Trail because of traffic concerns.
“The Georgia DOT’s preference is for the access to off the side road…which is Cherokee Trail,” Henderson said. He added that the topography of the site also made entrance off Cherokee Trail the better choice.
“If you take a look at what I am proposing and the low impact that this will be to the area, it’s got to be the friendliest commercial development that could come into the neighborhood,” Henderson said. “Our development is not pulling on any of the services in the county…it has no sewer, it has no water, and the big issue – it has no children.”
Also at question is an existing residence on the property and whether Henderson plans to demolish the home, or use the structure as an office or as a residence for a care-taker of the property.
When all comments had been considered the Planning Commission voted to recommend the rezoning of the property to allow for a self-storage facility but with the entrance to the business off Browns Bridge Road only, and in a second vote the special use application for the house on the site was tabled until Henderson could determine how he might use the structure.
The tabled application concerning the house will be heard again by the Planning Commission on September 7th. The rezoning application that was recommended for approval now goes to the Hall County Commission for final consideration on September 23rd.
