Lavonia Planning Commission Holds Off on New Subdivsion Rezoning Decision

The Lavonia Planning Commission and City Council will wait on a request by a Jackson County developer to approve a rezoning request for several pieces of property where they plan to build a single-family subdivision and a townhome community.

At their meeting Monday night, the Planning Commission heard from Kenny Whitworth representing Gunter Vickery Properties, LLC, and Alberta and Matilda Garcia of Ft. Lauderdale, FL., owners of three properties on Vickery St./ Highway 59

Whitworth is asking the City to rezone the 11 acres owned by the Garcia’s from R1-A Single-family (low Density) to R-1B Single Family Residential (High Density).

And he’s also asking that 14 acres owed by Gunter Vickery Properties be rezoned from R1-A to R-3 Multifamily Residential.

Whitworth said the plan is to build 57 single-family homes on the 11 acres just east of Grace Fellowship Baptist Church and 127 townhomes on acreage on the other side of Grace Fellowship as well across the street at the corner of Spring and Vickery Sts.

Whitworth said the single-family homes would be approximately 1,600 sq ft and would sell in the range of $250,000 to $300,000.

The townhomes would be three-bedroom, fee simple units aimed at smaller families and single professionals.

The proposed single-family subdivision would butt up against the Stonebrook subdivision with a 40-100ft buffer of trees between them.

Planning and Zoning member Jerry Bird recused himself from voting on the rezoning request because he lives in the Stonebrook subdivision.

However, speaking as a citizen, he said he’s concerned about the high volume of new family housing coming to Lavonia.

“We have three places in Lavonia now that are approved for high-density housing,” he noted. “You can change the population of Lavonia pretty quick if you fill all of those up. That’s just my opinion. I’m not going to vote on this….I’m stating that as a citizen.”

Other concerns were raised by the Board members regarding the density of the townhome community as well as the increased traffic that would result.

Board member Pam Stone asked if fewer townhomes could be built and Whitworth said they were open to discussing it.

Board vice chair Tracy Knox Sadler said she liked the idea of more affordable housing but was also concerned with increased traffic.

“Growth is always good. Changes come with growth. Growth is good for our city to bring more tax revenue in but I’m one of the citizens who live off Highway 59. Some days coming to Highway 59 it takes five to 10 minutes already to get out on the highway from traffic. So now we’re adding more traffic to the highway. You did say you all would pay for any traffic lights or anything that needed to be added on. Like I say, growth is good. Your pricing is good for the time now but that would be my main concern, traffic in that area,” she explained.

After more discussion, the Planning and Zoning Commission told Whitworth they needed to do more research and review his development plans before making any recommendation to the City Council.