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| | | LETCHAS (click for larger version) | |
January 30, 2008
ALPHARETTA -- City Council delayed its decision on the Windward Mill mixed-use project Jan. 22, telling the developer to come back in 60 days with a site plan that reflects conditions in the city's latest motion on its zoning application.
Penn Hodge and his partners want to build a mixed-use project with 850,000 square feet of office space, 80,000 square feet of retail, a 275-room hotel and 500 condominiums. Under the request, 38 percent of the property, not including roads and parking, would be covered by buildings.
Council members appeared almost ready to approve a slightly smaller project, with 400 condos, a 250-room hotel with 10,000 square feet of meeting space and the office and retail the developers wanted. However, Mayor Arthur Letchas said he could not visualize the development well enough to make a decision after all the changes in greenspace, setback and other requirements.
"What I'm going to do is kind of unusual," Letchas said to his fellow council members. "I'm going to propose that the applicant put together some type of conceptual drawing that utilizes the conditions that you have set forth so that we can see what it's going to look like. After the fact is too late."
Letchas said in his 25 years on council he's never made this kind of request before. With that, he moved to table the Windward Mill zoning application decision for 60 days. The developers were asked to have that plan by March 17.
In December, the council tabled a previous motion to rezone the property with fewer condos and larger building setbacks. At that time, many residents, including members of Windward Homeowners Inc. zoning committee, protested any residential on the site, particularly condos. Other residents backed the concept of mixed use with a the MARTA Park and Ride lot then potentially becoming home to a MARTA rail station.
- www.northfulton.com
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