Alpharetta to weigh MetLife request for mixed-use development

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MetLife will make another attempt at gaining approval to build a 47-acre mixed-use development on its campus at Haynes Bridge Road and Ga. 400 in Alpharetta.

On Monday night, the city council will take up the issue again at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at City Hall.

The request was tabled last month after residents complained that the city's website didn't reflect current zoning codes, and they couldn't mount a proper case against the development. Mayor Arthur Letchas said time will be allotted for public comment at the meeting.

The company did not come away empty-handed from the January meeting. It received a variance to channel a stream through an underground pipe so it could build atop the property.

MetLife is asking the city to rezone the property from office and institutional to mixed use in order to create a development that would facilitate 40,000 square feet of restaurant space, 70,000 square feet of retail, a 211-room hotel, 447,200 square feet of office use and 546 condominiums. The proposed variance would commit MetLife to add turn lanes at Haynes Bridge Road and Lakeview Parkway.

The company has owned the Haynes Bridge property for more than two decades and moved its regional headquarters to the site in 1998. It occupies one of three six-story office buildings on the campus.

The request drew almost a dozen citizen comments at last month's public hearing, and all but two were opposed to the project.

"The City of Alpharetta continues to add density, add condominiums and it's going to have a negative impact on the future," said resident Jimmy Gilvin, who plans to attend Monday night's meeting. "We have a great quality of life, we have great public schools and for some reason that seems to be under attack right now."

Over the past month, staff has updated the website to reflect current zoning regulations, Community Development Director Diana Wheeler said.

The changes, she said, were to clarify descriptions for residential housing. Now, the city code refers to the structures as either for-sale or for-rent, attached or detached. It does not distinguish between single family and multi-family anymore.

Opponents have argued the city has gone out of its way to push the project at a time when residential and commercial property sits vacant throughout Alpharetta.

"Alpharetta is probably the only city in the country where a developer walks into the Community Development Department requesting a simple stream variance, and he leaves with the promise to push through zoning for a high density, mixed-use project," resident Mark McKean said.

Wheeler denies the charge, and said there has been no attempt to alter the zoning code to fit MetLife's plan.

"If the plan met the code, it wouldn't require a public hearing," she said.

MetLife did not respond to requests for comment.