With the promise of a new hospital coming to Thompson Mill Road, growth along the Ga. 211 corridor has seen a spike, and more development could be on the horizon.
Plans to build a commercial center along the state route that offers a mix of retail and medical offices cleared another hurdle last week.
The Braselton Zoning Board of Appeals on June 16 unanimously approved an application for a variance to reduce the required stream buffer and impervious surface setback on the proposed site, which is located in the Hall County portion of Braselton between Thompson Mill Road and Riverstone Park subdivision.
Property owner Edd Price with Friendship Road Properties, LLC requested permission to disturb a small stream on the 27-acre property for the planned project.
Under the Braselton Development Code, a 50-foot undisturbed stream buffer and an additional 25-foot impervious surface setback from each side of a stream's bank is required.
Price requested relief from those stipulations, citing it would be difficult to develop the property if the buffer was not reduced.
In Braselton's analysis of the request, town engineer Steve Payne found that the stream's location "bisects the property" and without encroaching on the required buffer, part of the property would be "rendered unusable."
Payne also noted that permanent impacts on the stream will primarily result from plans to grade and place a building pad and install parking facilities for the development.
Payne proposed four stipulations in his report, most dealing with water quality incentives, and the board of appeals approved all four.
The property includes about 0.4 acres of vegetated wetland, 0.04 acres of forested wetland and an intermittent stream that would be impacted from the development. The stream is located in the Mulberry River watershed and Upper Oconee River corridor.
Bret Clark, an agent for Price, attended last week's meeting. He told the commission the stream would be piped before paving over it. Clark said a nationwide permit, which is required to pipe a stream, has been awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In its approval, the corps ruled that a stream buffer variance would also have to be obtained from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and stream and wetland mitigation credits would have to be purchased for every square foot of stream that is disturbed or impacted.
These credits are purchased from a stream mitigation bank.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a mitigation bank is "a wetland, stream or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or (in certain circumstances) preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources."
Clark said he expects to pay between $80,000 and $100,000 for these credits. "It's like a swap. I buy credit, they set aside land in the same watershed and we have to buy it. That's part of our nationwide permit,."
Plans to develop the property have been in the works for several years, Clark said. He said a previous property owner had planned to develop the land, focusing more on retail. When the economy fell apart in 2008, though, those plans shut down.
Price has owned the property for about two years and wants to still include some retail, but with the planned hospital backing up to the property, Clark said there's a bigger focus on attracting medical tenants.
When built-out, the center will likely be 200,000 square feet and feature between eight and 10 buildings.
No tenants have committed yet, but Clark said some he and Price have talked with include stores like Walgreen Co., CVS, Starbucks, a fast-food restaurant and some medical offices.
Any movement on the project will likely begin once a road project to realign Thompson Mill Road/Ga. Highway 347 commences and after work on the hospital begins.
Clark said he believes the Georgia Department of Transportation will award the bid to realign Thompson Mill Road this December. Construction on the hospital could start in 2013.