Developer suing over zoning vote
Developer suing over zoning vote
Oconee County
By Merritt Melancon juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com
Story updated at 12:14 AM on Friday, November 18, 2005
WATKINSVILLE - An Oconee County development company is suing the Oconee County Commission over its Oct. 4 denial of a rezoning application that would have allowed 66 acres of commercial businesses on Mars Hill Road land that's currently zoned for agriculture.
Oconee County developer Mark Jennings' company, Plant-a-Seed Inc., sued commissioners in Oconee County Superior Court to overturn their decision and to force them to reconsider the rezoning.
Plant-a-Seed originally asked commissioners to rezone two separate parcels for a pair of developments known as The Promenade at Parkside and The Commons at Parkside. The applications asked that one 48-acre tract be rezoned so that offices could be built there and that one 6-acre tract be rezoned so that retail shops and offices could be built there.
The two developments were planned to serve as the commercial components to Parkside, a 500-acre residential and commercial mixed-use complex developed by Jennings off Georgia Highway 53.
Commissioners rezoned the 48-acre parcel for office use, but refused to rezone the larger parcel to allow retail shops there.
Residents of nearby Northwest Woods subdivision, which sits directly across Mars Hill Road from the proposed project, told commissioners in October that the size of the project and the traffic it would generate would make it an unsafe addition to the area.
In the lawsuit, Plant-a-Seed and James Dooley and Allen Dooley, who own the majority of the land in question, claim commissioners had no reason to deny the rezoning and that the agriculture zoning violates the owners' property rights.
The first hearing regarding the lawsuit won't be held until early next year, according to Andrea Jones, attorney for Plant-a-Seed and the Dooleys
Oconee County
By Merritt Melancon juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com
Story updated at 12:14 AM on Friday, November 18, 2005
WATKINSVILLE - An Oconee County development company is suing the Oconee County Commission over its Oct. 4 denial of a rezoning application that would have allowed 66 acres of commercial businesses on Mars Hill Road land that's currently zoned for agriculture.
Oconee County developer Mark Jennings' company, Plant-a-Seed Inc., sued commissioners in Oconee County Superior Court to overturn their decision and to force them to reconsider the rezoning.
Plant-a-Seed originally asked commissioners to rezone two separate parcels for a pair of developments known as The Promenade at Parkside and The Commons at Parkside. The applications asked that one 48-acre tract be rezoned so that offices could be built there and that one 6-acre tract be rezoned so that retail shops and offices could be built there.
The two developments were planned to serve as the commercial components to Parkside, a 500-acre residential and commercial mixed-use complex developed by Jennings off Georgia Highway 53.
Commissioners rezoned the 48-acre parcel for office use, but refused to rezone the larger parcel to allow retail shops there.
Residents of nearby Northwest Woods subdivision, which sits directly across Mars Hill Road from the proposed project, told commissioners in October that the size of the project and the traffic it would generate would make it an unsafe addition to the area.
In the lawsuit, Plant-a-Seed and James Dooley and Allen Dooley, who own the majority of the land in question, claim commissioners had no reason to deny the rezoning and that the agriculture zoning violates the owners' property rights.
The first hearing regarding the lawsuit won't be held until early next year, according to Andrea Jones, attorney for Plant-a-Seed and the Dooleys
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