It’s back. What was a proposal before the Coweta County Commission in November 2009 to establish a residential and commercial development at Ga. Highway 16 and Ga. Highway 54 just south of Sharpsburg made its way back to the commission last week. But with a twist. Though denied by the board last year, the re-scaled development came back to the commission again, but in the form of an annexation request by Sharpsburg to annex the property for the development into the city. In the end the commission voted not to object.
The Oakhall Village proposal would have 109.35 acres annexed into the city. Oakhall Properties is requesting to develop the area under the city’s Planned Community Development zoning category. The original proposal that came before commissioners last year, referred to as Neely Pond, included 55 acres of commercial and 131 acres of residential. Commissioners last year unanimously denied the rezoning request.
This time around the proposal came before the commission only in terms of the annexation request by the city. Addressing the annexation, county planning director Robert Tolleson explained that the commission essentially had no concrete way to stop the annexation since Sharpsburg met the qualifications specified for such an action.
Tolleson and county administrator Theron Gay did note several considerations to the annexation. Among those was the request that Sharpsburg collect impact fees for the development and forward those collections to the county since the development would be served by county services such as fire and law enforcement.
After the discussion Chairman Paul Poole made a motion to object to the annexation request. The motion did not receive a second. Instead, Gay and county attorney Nathan Lee said they would discuss the motion while the commission was in executive session.
It was after the executive session had concluded and the regular session had been re-opened that Poole immediately said that while he was opposed to the annexation and though it was not in the county’s best interest, he did not believe the county was in a position to object to the annexation based on the staff review.
Without discussion, the board voted, with the aforementioned considerations, not to object to the annexation. Poole’s statement and the subsequent vote was not preceded by any report back from Lee or Gay. Additionally, the only topics mentioned on the affidavit of the executive session pertained to litigation and real estate.
As proposed to Sharpsburg, Oakhall Village would include 87,000 square feet of commercial space and 41,000 square feet of office/institutional space along Hwy. 16 and just to the west of Hwy. 54. Included in the commercial component are proposed ball fields, daycare and assisted living facilities and a park.
The residential component situated to the southwest of the commercial development, and connected to it by a “boulevard” type roadway, would include 88 single-family homes and 60 multi-family condominiums.
