Dews Pond traffic a concern
Another recent annexation and conditional rezoning on McDaniel Station Road has also drawn concerns.
A March annexation and rezoning by the City of Calhoun continues to lead to concerns about traffic and safety on Dews Pond Road.
Though the 37-acre property just east of
Shenandoah Drive is now in the city after approval by the Calhoun
City Council, traffic from any future development on the site will empty onto the county road.
“The only thing we have to do with this now city subdivision is the inconvenience of the traffic and the expense that comes with the subdivision emptying onto our county jurisdiction road,” County Administrator Jim Ledbetter recently told county commissioners.
The development’s first phase is expected to be around 125 homes between 1,500 and 2,500 square feet, priced somewhere between $225,000 and $325,000. SDH Atlanta LLC, also known as Smith Douglas Homes, is the contracted builder with Brent Stepp being the local contact for the project.
Some residents along Dews Pond Road, as well as some who use the road for their morning and evening commutes, have expressed concerns about possibly adding to the congestion.
“I’ve received phone calls from a number of different folks in the community,” Ledbetter said. “A lot of people have communicated to me their concerns about traffic and the hazards of this many homes dumping onto Dews Pond Road in the mornings and then dumping back into the subdivision in the afternoons.”
It’s currently expected that a first and second phase will take approximately three years to complete.
“I’ve told [concerned citizens] that we would look at this and do what we can for the safety on Dews Pond Road, and that’s what we want to do,” Ledbetter said. “I’m trying to get public disclosure and transparency as to what’s going on ... so the public will know what’s coming and they’ll have a chance to voice their opinion, giving folks their basic due process.”
Ledbetter said though the county has little to do with the overall project since the annexation, officials continue to follow the development’s progress and pass along concerns to the developers.
“We’ve looked at this carefully, we’ve met with the engineers of the subdivision and we’ve asked them to consider other measures such as turn lanes and so forth and
they have said this is their plan and they’re not required to do turn lanes,” Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter said, even though the development will use a county road at its entrance, there is little left that can be done as far as county control concerning the project.
“This is probably the most that we can enforce them to do,” Ledbetter said in reference to the developer’s current plan. “We can’t make them do extra because we don’t have anything to compel them to do anything differently as a contingency of rezoning or anything like that since they chose to go into the city.”
A recent traffic study hasn’t been completed on the project yet, but should eventually be done prior to a driveway permit being issued by the county.
“[The developers] said if we require it, they would have one done,” Gordon County Public Works Director Steve Parris said.
Ledbetter added that at certain times of the day traffic can already be seen backed up on Dews Pond Road to near the subdivision’s eventual location from the Lovers Lane/ Harmony Church Road intersection.
“We will ask them to complete that traffic study and, of course, comply with its recommendations before we issue any kind of a permit,” said Ledbetter. “The city, early on, has offered to work with us on this in previous conversations. We’ll keep working on it.”
No timeline for the project’s start has been given, but developers are ready to get to work as soon as possible, according to Ledbetter.
“They’re pushing us because they’re ready to go,” he said.
A similar situation on McDaniel Station Road arose earlier this month when the city approved an annexation and conditional rezoning request for 44.14 acres at 516 McDaniel Station Road, that according to attorney Terry Brumlow, would eventually become single
family housing between 1,200 to 2,000 square feet.
A public hearing prior to the vote drew concerns about increased traffic and safety near the site. The conditional rezoning will be reliant on developers ability to successfully connect to city sewer and water underneath adjoining railroad tracks.
That development would also eventually require a county government permit for driveway access with McDaniel Station Road being the only possible route to the property.