Third Street lot OK’D for townhomes
♦ The Rome City Commission is expected to make a final decision Monday.
The Rome-floyd Planning Commission is backing plans to build a gated townhouse community on an empty lot on Third Street in the Between the Rivers historic district.
The lot is a little over half an acre and sits right behind the federal courthouse on First Street. Applicant and owner JFB Development is requesting the lot be rezoned from office-institutional to urban-mixed-use.
Planning commission members recommended approval of the rezoning Thursday.
The Rome City Commission will make the final decision following a public hearing Monday.
Senior planner Brice Wood pointed out that there are very few empty lots in the district and that it’s one of the few ways to add to the district without tearing down a building.
Chuck Hardin, an engineer with Southern Engineering and Surveying, said he believes it’s a good area for the construction. Hardin would be one of the engineers working on the project.
“We feel like it’s a good fit ... There’s already mixed use in the area, a mixture of commercial and office and residential,” he said.
Hardin said the townhomes would each have two bedrooms, two stories and onecar garages.
“With the placement of where they are, we want people to be proud to drive by it,” said Jackson Barksdale of JFB Development.
Planning commission member Tom Bennett made the motion to approve the request. The motion passed unanimously.
Members also recommended approval of a rezoning in South Rome at 50 Pollock St.
Laurel Street Residential wishes to rezone the 15-acre lot from high density traditional residential to multifamily residential. Lee Cochran, a representative for
Laurel Street Residential, said they plan to build a twostory apartment complex for mixed-income residents.
South Rome Redevelopment Corp. is the current owner of the parcel and has worked with the applicant in the past.
Director Charles Looney said he and the rest of the nonprofit organization look forward to working with the applicant again.
Planning commission members recommended approval unanimously.
The requests will go before the City Commission at their meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. over Zoom. The meeting will be livestreamed on the city government’s Facebook page.