Update, Sept. 23: The Hall County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the project by a 3-2 vote with Chairman Richard Higgins and Shelly Echols dissenting.
A proposed West Hall facility for boat, recreational vehicle and personal storage was initially approved Monday night but with one major condition.
The Hall County Planning Commission voted Aug. 16 to recommend approval of the project but with the condition that access to the development be restricted to Browns Bridge Road/Ga. 369, instead of Cherokee Trail as the developer has proposed.
Developer Lanier Luxe Self Storage of Murrayville is seeking to build the seven-building facility on nearly 10 acres at 4152 Browns Bridge Road near Cherokee Trail.
The facility “will be a lake-supportive land use” as recommended by Hall County’s comprehensive land-use plan, Lanier Luxe said in a statement filed with Hall County about the proposed project
Kent Henderson, speaking for the project, told the planning board that the facility would be the “friendliest, lowest-impact” development that could be put at the site and that it would be “doing nothing but paying tax dollars” to Hall County.
The project drew huge opposition from residents, who said they were concerned about the Cherokee Trail access, traffic at Cherokee Trail and Browns Bridge Road, and impact on property values.
One resident said he anticipated the development would end up being a “junkyard of boats.”
The “upscale, climate-controlled” facility would be built in two phases, Lanier Luxe said in its statement..
“The northern side of the site will be graveled and used for uncovered boat storage in the first phase,” Lanier Luxe said. “Later, when the market conditions dictate, phase two (calls for building) the remainder of the units.”
Lanier Luxe is seeking to rezone the property from residential and agricultural-residential to highway business for the development.
The planning board’s recommendation now goes to the Hall County Board of Commissioners for a public hearing and final vote on Sept. 23.