A nearly 400,000 square-foot industrial complex will be built in southern Powder Springs despite continued objections from residents who live nearby.
City Council rezoned and annexed 127 acres of land late Monday to make way for a massive logistics center and accompanying warehouse in the city’s C.H. James Parkway corridor.
The Native Development Group plans to build the 338,550-square-foot distribution depot adjacent to a 60,000-square-foot warehouse on undeveloped land along Oglesby Road.
Councilmembers approved rezoning for the 9.2-acre portion of the development within city limits, where the warehouse will be built.
The city also voted to annex the 117 acres into the city from unincorporated Cobb County. The distribution center will be sited on that property.
The approvals came after nearly two months of negotiations between the Alpharetta developer, city officials and many residents of Springbrook Estates, a single-family subdivision just north of the development site.
The stakeholders carved out 27 stipulations that Native Development Group agreed to incorporate into its plan. Many of the stipulations aimed to limit truck traffic from spilling onto roads into neighboring residential areas.
“I’d like to think this was a team effort,” Joe McGorrey, principal of the Native Development Group, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “I do think this is a good project. And maybe the underlying theme is this has been zoned as industrial since 1986. So whether it’s me or somebody else, it was going to get developed as an industrial project at some point.”
The Native Development Group and city officials estimate the industrial complex can bring up to 200 jobs and about $85,000 in annual tax revenue to Powder Springs.
The project, nevertheless, has faced pushback from Springbrook Estates residents who’ve been adamant in their opposition to an industrial hub being built near their homes
As they did when the development first went before City Council in September, residents on Monday continued to worry that the development could negatively impact the value of their homes by heightening truck traffic in their neighborhood. They’re also concerned the big rigs on the road could pose safety and environmental issues.
“When you say you’ve talked to the residents, you haven’t talked to me,” said Marvin Stokes, who owns a home along Misty Creek Court. “You’re directly affecting my lifestyle, you’re affecting my living ability, you’re affecting everything about why I came to Powder Springs.”
Councilwoman Nancy Farmer, who represents Ward 3 where the development will be sited, was the lone council member who voted against the zoning and annexation ordinances Monday. She said the warehouse would negative safety and environmental impacts on the community.
“This city is trying to get everybody to come in and give them the best quality of life,” she said. “If we put a warehouse 1,000 feet from their backyard, that’s not being good stewards of the citizens. That’s not being rational.”
Councilman Patrick Bordelon said he’d written up a statement to oppose the development prior to Monday’s meeting. He was convinced to vote for it after he saw the stipulations the developer and city officials worked out. Among them were measures to keep trucks from making right turns onto Lewis Road from Oglesby Road and signs to cut off truck traffic beyond the distribution site’s driveway on Oglesby Road.
Bordelon also noted that distribution center property was already zoned to allow industrial development. That portion did not need any city council approval.
“If we do not approve this, and these 27 stipulations go away, then the project that goes in there would not be as beneficial to the residents of this neighborhood,” he said.
