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
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