Home > Snellville.Talk > Archives > 2007 > May > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USIs your home stuck between commercial growth and neighborhoods?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When country goes commercial, there are direct hits, and there are innocent bystanders.
In Snellville, a direct hit is Ga. 124.
North Road is an innocent bystander.
Ga. 124, also known as Scenic Highway - which elicits snickers these days - is a once-rural road intentionally sacrificed for strip malls, restaurants, big box stores and bumper-to-bumper traffic.
North Road has the misfortune of running parallel to Ga. 124. It is a residential street that in recent years has become a victim of the next-door development, its two lanes invaded daily by hundreds of motorists trying to avoid the commercial chaos.
In spots, its residential nature has given way to offices and the backs of Kroger, Home Depot and other stores. During the wee hours of the morning, tractor-trailer deliveries to those stores wake up nearby residents.
For many who live along North Road, the time to get out is now. But there’s a problem.
In most areas, the road remains under residential zoning. If homeowners sell under that zoning, they must sell it as a home, and they say no one will pay what their property is worth because of the traffic and nearby commercial environment. Interested buyers are mainly investors who pay low dollar for the homes, rent them out, and then - when the area eventually goes commercial or office/institutional - sell for a significant profit.
Homeowners — at least the large group of them who attended a meeting at Snellville City Hall on Monday — would rather sell directly to buyers who want the property for commercial enterprises.
That same day they submitted a petition to the city asking that the North Road area between Dogwood Road and Pharr Road be designated for commercial use on the city’s land use map. Some would like to see the commercial designation extend the entire length of North Road.
Joe Bell, a resident of North Road, is spearheading the drive. The petition has about 60 signatures on it, he said. He estimates there are about 120 homes along the road.
The meeting Monday night was an open house for the City of Snellville’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan, which includes guides for future land use. North Road issues dominated the comments from the standing room only crowd of about 150.
The tentative comprehensive plan unveiled on Monday currently calls for preserving the neighborhood quality along North Road, but adding traffic improvements, sidewalks and other changes. The exception is at the south end of the road, where the land can be used for office development.
Homeowners said they hope the petition will sway the council to change its land-use plan.
One thing is clear: North Road has become a priority issue for Snellville.
What do you think? What should happen when a neighborhood doesn’t want to be a neighborhood any more. What should be done for areas catching commercial runoff? What should happen to North Road?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Susan Gast
Comments
By GL
May 10, 2007 6:46 AM | Link to this
Rezone it for commercial use so those property owners can be compensated for the invasion of their neighborhood. Widen it to 4 lanes (there is enough room). Make left turn lanes and folks will be a lot happier.
By Fred Lemson
May 10, 2007 7:54 AM | Link to this
Make the developers live there,in travel trailers,until all development in the area is finished!
By doinou
May 10, 2007 8:25 AM | Link to this
Residential property owners should have reduced property taxes, since the value is adversely affected by commercial zoning which increases taxes for the county.
By Publius
May 10, 2007 9:09 AM | Link to this
The only way to preserve “the neighborhood quality along North Road” is to block one end of the road. That will stop the through traffic from 124. In addition, the City Council needs to come up with a way to stop the cut-through traffic coming from Grayson to Ronald Reagan Parkway via Pinehurst Road. Zoning must be combined with traffic control in order to preserve “neighborhood quality.”
We need petitions for this type of change, rather than a petition that will give residents a way to profit while fleeing the area.
The biggest challenge is getting the Snellville City Council to stop their political bickering long enough to actually work for the community.
By DM
May 10, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
And where is the rezoning going to end. If you expand commercial zoning along North Rd. you are just going to push noise and traffic into the residental areas around it. I’m sorry if the current owners along North Rd. are going to suffer a loss, but thats a risk you run when you buy and hold onto property. The city shouldn’t push business even further away from 124 just because some people didn’t got out of the area at a good time.
By S
May 10, 2007 2:35 PM | Link to this
Homeowners want a nice place to live that holds maximum resale value. Businesses want to maximize profits/minimize costs -same difference just depends on how you want to look at it-
Both markets are beneficial to society. There is no way to really judge which one is more beneficial though. Unless you are clairvoyant, in which case feel free to email me and we’ll talk. :) Because of this it is hard to say who should bear the burden of the costs of the land.
The solution would seem to be some kind of buffer between commercial and residential zones, but who would pay for it? Businesses don’t want unused land. Residents don’t want to own inconvenient land without resale value. If it’s left up to the government, we’ll all pay via taxes.
It would be fabulous if a third party stepped in who wanted the land to use for something that would avoid disturbing the neighboring residents.
I lack enough knowledge about biology or the geography of the specific land plots that are subject to this rezoning plan, to know if the following suggestion is really possible, but hopefully it will at least get people thinking about other possible solutions…
If the area was big enough, I think it would suit tree farmers if they could farm a resilient tree that could stand up to the pollution of industry. Tree farming is minimally annoying to residents because of the tremendous amount of time between harvests. That way the land wouldn’t be wasted and neighbors wouldn’t be disturbed.
By Donna Rayburn
May 11, 2007 7:10 AM | Link to this
I think they should just go ahead and rezone Hamilton Mill Road and make it all comerical, you can’t even get out of your driveway now.
By MB
May 12, 2007 11:08 AM | Link to this
North Road’s case is a sad but instructive one. Among the lessons is that zoning (and street widenings, new housing developments, strip centers, turn lanes, etc.) do not operate in a vacuum. An effective land use/zoning planning process is needed which not only looks at impacts but works through mitigation strategies (and gets citizen input) proactively.
North Road is lost, and these residents are going to be financial losers, but hopefully the lessons learned here can be used in other parts of the county.
By IHAVEHADIT
May 15, 2007 6:57 AM | Link to this
My home is on North Road and for those of you who don’t deal with what we do every day, I say zip it! We did not buy our home with the thought of the area going commercial. We bought it as our HOMES. With the exception of our crazy neighbor, we like our home. I just wish these so called improvements, like sidewalks and curbs, extended down to the rest of the houses on North Road and not just around the SNELL property. We are all still on septic. Everytime they re-pave the road, we get the runoffs from the rain, which saturates the lawn and we have problems getting the field lines dry. Will the city help do anything about getting us on sewer since it is so close by? NO! Traffic is bad, kids hot rodding down the street with their radios blasting, cars whipping by - and they aren’t always ordinary citizens, the police race down North Road as well with no regard for public safety or even being respectful of the traffic laws. They still think they are above GOD and everybody and can do what they want. When you complain, they say, oh, well, we were responding to a call. Without LIGHTS, SIRENS or anything? Unless it was a domestic situation - I don’t think so! If moving were an option, believe me, I would - just to get away from the crazy neighbor. But since that is not an option, I am doing the best I can to live in peace and make the best of what is a terrible situation. And to DM, unless you live in my home and know my circumstances, don’t think I bought it for a possible resale. I bought it to live in for the long haul. It’s just that the city is making that term a lot shorter than it has to be. It is not so much the monetary loss that will be experienced that bothers us, but the emotional ones of having to give up our HOMES in order to have peace and safety.
By Kaye
May 15, 2007 10:48 AM | Link to this
I live on North Road. I bought a house in the country several years ago. I never had a plan on moving. I love my home. I do not however love the Home Depot, Krogers, and all the other large stores that have built up in my back yard. I dont appreciate the beer bottles in my yard and I dont appreciate having to back up in my yard to get safely out of my driveway.
Here is the fact. The city of Snellville has made a commercial area out of our street and instead of doing the right thing, they stop short and we are paying the price. North Road is already commercial. They have made it that way. Its only fair that they continue what they have started, rezone this area so we can get out and then learn from their own mistakes.
We did not ask for this, we did not want this, but unless the high powers want to move into the house thats been sitting empty now for a year, then I will continue to fight. We are not residential and have not been for quite some time. Its time to right the wrong and do it now.
By Bob
May 15, 2007 11:09 AM | Link to this
Everyone on North Road place your homes up for sale POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL and not under 400K. Thats a fair price and hold out. Dont sell anymore homes to the investors that are holding out till they have them all. Get your money for youself. Once Snell owns the houses then it will go commercial and he will make another fortune. Fight for what is right. Sell it potential commercial and hold out till you get your price.