Housing plans clear hurdle
♦ The planning commission backs applications that would add homes on Pollock Street and expand a rental community on Lee Avenue.
Plans to expand a townhouse rental community on Lee Avenue cleared the first hurdle Thursday with a unanimous recommendation for approval by the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission.
Howard Alexander Jr. said he wants to demolish the dilapidated house at 704 Lee Ave. and combine the tract with the adjacent Cherry Hill gated community. He’d add three more units and a second access to the public street.
“They call it a multi-family development, but these are basically single-family houses attached with enclosed garages,” Alexander told the citizen board. “This will be a little more upscale than Cherry Hill.”
The tract is in the East Rome Historic District. Alexander also owns the Cottonwood development across Lee Avenue at East Seventh Street, behind the Wendy’s restaurant fronting on Turner McCall Boulevard.
He said the two-story Cottonwood units built in 2002 were meant for young renters while he expected the stepless Cherry Hill homes built in 2010 to attract retirees. Instead, seniors gravitated to Cottonwood and Cherry
Hill has become popular with middle-aged couples.
“They both stay 100-percent full with waiting lists, though,” Alexander said. “No one moves.”
The Rome City Commission will hold a public hearing and make a final decision on his requested rezoning at its July 23 meeting. Alexander also will need approval from the Historic Preservation Commission on his building plan.
City commissioners also have final say on the South Rome Redevelopment Corp.’s plans to build three homes on vacant Pollack Street lots. SRRC Executive Director Charles Looney said it’s part of the Rome Community Development Department’s affordable housing initiative.
The street leads into the old Curtis Packing property that will be the site of a community boathouse and RomeFloyd ECO River Education Center annex funded through the 2017 SPLOST. Looney said the houses would be available to first-time buyers making less than 80 percent of the median area income.
A fourth lot on Pollock, in a flood plain, won backing for use as a community garden. Looney said it’s part of the SRRC’s health initiative.
“We have a young couple who wants to come in and do some small gardens and sell the fresh produce in South Rome,” he said.
In other actions Thursday, Planning Commission members unanimously recommended approval of two proposed rezonings in the unincorporated area.
Rhinehart Equipment at 3556 Martha Berry Highway is seeking to expand its farm equipment rental and service departments to part of a vacant tract behind the business on Beard Drive and Old Dalton Road. “There’s been a lot of growth in the industry,” manager Derek Forester said.
The county also wants light industrial zoning for property just north of Richard B. Russell Regional Airport in connection with a runway extension.
The Floyd County Commission will hold public hearings on those applications at its July 24 meeting.