Bogart gets new business park on Landrum Drive

28-acre business park gets thumbs up from council

Bogart

By Merritt Melancon | juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 1:28 AM on Wednesday, October 18, 2006

BOGART - The Bogart City Council approved a 28-acre business park Monday near the Athens-Clarke/Oconee County line despite objections from homeowners who say the park will ruin the quaint aesthetic of their neighborhood.

The park's owners, Bogart Business Park LLC, could begin construction early next year, and when it's finished, the park could hold as many as 24 businesses, said Steven Hooks, a engineer with business park designer Schmitt Engineering. The industrial park will be sandwiched between Landrum Drive and Thompson Street in an area zoned for intensive business uses.

Many residents of Landrum Drive said they favor business development, but worry that the industrial park will turn neighborhood streets into noisy eyesores.

"We live in a town with a train that comes through every hour on the hour," Mayor Jan Thurmond countered. "So I don't know how you can worry about the noise associated with this park."

Residents requested a 20-foot buffer between the park and surrounding residential areas, which the council included as a condition of approving preliminary plans for Bogart Business Park.

When the council revamped its zoning code this summer, all references to the county planning commission and planning staff were omitted. Council members felt that since this project was so large, it should be sent to the planning commission for an additional review.

The council also agreed to pay the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center to make 44 changes to the city's new zoning code, including re-integrating the county planning commission into the process on a permanent basis. Council members unanimously approved a 90-day moratorium on new development in Bogart until the revised zoning code was approved.

What's next

The plans for the business park also must go before the Oconee County Planning Commission, which in the past reviewed rezoning requests and preliminary plats before they went to the Bogart City Council for final approval.


Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 101806

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