Plans for Hoyt site have ‘grown a little’

The City Commission will rule on several proposed new projects at its Dec. 18 meeting.

Plans for the Hoyt property on West First Street call for a painted brick building with a Victorian feel that houses 12 townhouses of varying sizes.

“It’s grown a little,” coowner Jack Pearson told members of the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission Thursday.

Pearson and Wade Hoyt III were scheduled to submit a proposal last month, but took a second look at what they wanted to do on the nearly 1-acre site at 603 W. First St. abutting the Rome-Floyd County Library.

The new site plan calls for two three-bedroom condos with two garages each facing West Second Street. They’d have a separate entrance, while the residences on the other side of the building would be accessed from West Sixth Avenue.

Pearson said there would be six three-bedroom units, one with two bedrooms and five with one bedroom each. Eight of the units in the back would have drive-in garages and a parking lot would serve the rest.

After a protracted battle, Wade Hoyt III and Pearson won approval from the Historic Preservation Commission to demolish the dilapidated 1867 Hoyt family home on the property — if their new site plan is approved.

The planning commission unanimously recommended approval, with the conditions that the areas fronting the roads would be streetscaped, bike racks would be included and the internal sidewalks are connected to the city’s public sidewalks.

Planning Director Artagus Newell said the UMU zoning category is specifically designed to promote pedestrian-friendly infill development in more urban areas.

The Rome City Commission will make a final ruling following a public hearing at its Dec. 18 meeting.

Several other proposals also are slated for action that night:

The planning commission unanimously recommended denial of Gene

and Tamara Suits’ plans for a recreational vehicle park on an 8.6-acre site at 262 Black’s Bluff Road.

The group backed plans submitted by Berry College for its planned continuing care retirement community, The Spires, off Redmond Road. It also supported Holston Gases’ plans for a petroleum tank storage site at 1809 Parrish Drive, in a heavy industrial area.