About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2025)
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 The Braselton News Page 3A Development continued from 1A green and plaza, an amenity area for residents and a parking deck. One of the retail buildings is designated for a 16,000-square- foot grocery store. For this project application. Parkway Professional, LLC, seeks to amend tlie Chateau Elan Planned Unit Develop ment to proceed witli tlie devel opment. Parkway Professional’s application includes variance requests for an increase in unit density (from 14 units per gross acre to 15.69 units), a parking location adjacent to a street and an increase in ground-floor residential use for multi-family buildings. Parkway Professional also seeks a special-use permit for multi-family dwellings in a planned unit development. Tlie town’s planning staff rec ommended approval of tlie ap plication but witli 15 conditions. Tlie development’s anchor hotel lias yet to be determined but would likely have a price point just below Cliateau Elan, according to Jonathan Collins, who represented Parkway Pro fessional. Tlie planning board was told tliat the hotel would likely be one of Marriott, Hilton, IHG or Hyatt’s upscale prop erties. As for tlie apartments, Collins said tlie price point would likely be $2,500 for a 1,000-square-foot unit. Meanwhile, the grocery store space would be occupied by a Sprouts, Trader Joe’s or Wliole Foods-type grocer, not a larger supermarket tlie size of Publix or Kroger, according to Collins. Tlie parking deck, by condi tion of tlie town, would be built concurrently witli tlie retail con dominium and retail loft office buildings and designed to ac commodate a town pedestrian and golf cart bridge project over Hwy.211. Tlie multi-family residential building amenities, in accor dance witli tlie town’s condi tions, include a fitness center, co-working space and gathering room — all located on tlie first floor of tlie structure, facing tlie retail center and providing a storefront appearance. Addition ally, a rooftop bar and restaurant would be included witli eitlier tlie hotel or tlie retail loft office building. Anotlier condition requires a minimum of 800 square feet for all one-room apartments and 1,200 square feet for all apart ments witli two or more rooms. Tliree-room apartments can comprise no more tlian 15 per cent of the total apartment units. Tlie town, by condition, would also require tlie devel oper to install 10-foot wide multi-patlis and Braselton street lights along Hwy. 211. if those features are not included witli the Hwy. 211 widening project. Tlie path must be installed in tlie Hwy. 211 right-of-way or have public accessibility protect ed via an easement. Tlie town would also require streetlights to be installed on tlie existing multi-use patli on Tliompson Mill Rd. and street tree planting along both roads (this could be modified if prohibited by a gov erning transportation agency). Tliese improvements can be postponed until tlie widening of Hwy. 211 is complete. Parkway Professional repre sentatives acknowledged traffic problems in tlie area and said tlie project’s construction timeline would be scheduled to coincide wifli flie DOT’s completion of the Hwy. 211 widening project. "This development really needs to be concurrent witli tlie road-widening project,” Collins said. ”... We don’t see start ing tins development until tliat road-widening project is under way witli a scheduled date of completion.” One resident spoke in favor of tlie development, saying tlie project would provide more op tions for Braselton residents and an alternative to Cliateau Elan for tliose visiting from outside Braselton. "Something like tins would be great to improve tlie lifestyle of Braselton residents — hav- ing more restaurants, green space, a place to go, a destina tion, tliat tlie city, in my opinion, could use and needs,” said Dua- da Griffin, who lives in Cliateau Elan. Anotlier resident, Elizabetli John, questioned the vicinity of the grocery story, as well as a proposed new road to serve the development, to the Gates of Braselton subdivision. She was told about 30 acres sepa rated the project from tlie Gates neigliborhood. Resident Dick Gray asked whetlier SPLOST funds would be used for tlie parking deck. Collins told him tliat was not true. He said Park- way Professional is funding tlie parking deck portion of its col laboration witli the town related to the Hwy. 211 golf cart bridge. “We’re going to be respon sible for our part of the parking deck,” Collins said. “Our cost, we are responsible for.” Tlie planning commission, an advisory board to tlie town council, is scheduled to make a recommendation at its meeting on July 28. South Hall Convenience store with retail, self storage approved for Friendship Rd. in South Hall By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com A convenience store with retail and self-storage in South Hall at the intersection of Friendship Rd. and Ridge Rd. has received approval. The Hall County Board of Commissioners on June 12 voted unanimously in favor of a zoning amendment request from Sinndar Enterprises to al low for the project. The planned site is located at 4396 and 4382 Friendship Rd. and 4436 Ridge Rd., approxi mately 4.5 miles from Friend ship Road’s intersection with Spout Springs Rd. The proper The BRASELTON NEWS ty is zoned planned commer cial development. Sinndar Enterprises askec to amend the current zon ing conditions, requesting an 8,010-square-foot build ing with six fuel pumps foi the convenience store anc retail space. The original re- zoning in 2022 allowed for a 6,853-square-foot structure with five fuel pumps. According to planning doc uments, the convenience store and retail space would be built during Phase I of devel opment. A storage facility o 15,000 square feet is plannee for Phase II. Plant continued from 1A invest over $2 billion in the project and hire around 2,000 employees, he said. The project would appar ently be similar to the current SK Battery facility in Com merce, although it would likely use a different tech nology. Georgia has attracted several EV battery plants in recent years, but the EV mar ¬ ket could be upended by the Trump Administration which is seeking to do away with various federal incentives and subsidies designed to bolster electric vehicles in the coun try- The proposed Jackson County project would happen in two phases, Wittry said, with an initial investment of $270 million followed by a $2.2 billion capital invest ment. ANOTHER LARGE PROJECT Wittry said another large project was currently looking in the Jefferson area. That project would be a $435 mil lion capital investment with 715 jobs. He said the com ¬ pany is also looking in other states and that the county and state had submitted their pro posals and are awaiting to “see what happens.” Wittry said that the county had also gotten an uptick in inquiries from manufacturing firms from outside the U.S. and was also getting inquiries from potential retail stores. Budget continued from 1A Employees reaching the three-year mark or those moving into a position with increased responsibility al ready received a 3% raise. The council may discuss additional raises in an upcoming work session. Regarding the approved budget, revenue is down ap proximately 8%. Part of that dip is due to sales tax collec tions and hotel and motel tax collections being down, with Town Manager Jennifer Scott noting the effect of road con struction on businesses on Hwy. 211 corridor. Meanwhile, at $8.67 mil lion, general fund expenses are up by 5.5%. The largest budget expenditure increase is for the police department, which rises from $3.14 mil lion to $3.85 million. Part of that increase will be allocated to fund three to four additional officers. Our offices will be closed Friday, July 4 th . JULY 9 th AD DEADLINE Classified and Display Ads 12 Noon, Thurs., July34 33 Lee Street P. O. 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Offer not available to Public Funds, brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. Fees could reduce earnings. Offer subject to change without notice. Offer good at locations in Braselton, GA only. "IRA CD must be opened in person and cannot be opened online.
