CAC Meeting #8

March 30, 2017

This CAC meeting focused on updating Character Area boundaries, developing the Future Land Use map, and refining citywide transportation policies and projects. CAC members were broken up into 4 groups to focus on these three tasks for smaller subareas in the City: Newtown, Ocee, Warsaw/River Estates/River East, and Shakerag.

Proposed Character Areas

1. NEWTOWN:


Top Land Use Concerns:
  • The lack of parks
  • Overuse of Newtown Park
  • Aging neighborhoods and shopping centers
Top Transportation Concerns:
  • Congestion on Old Alabama Road
  • Congestion on Barnwell Road near the school,
  • Lack of walking paths from the school to nearby subdivisions
Proposed solutions include:
  • Reconfiguring the shopping centers on the corners of Old Alabama and Haynes Bridge Road to include pedestrian access and connectivity between the four corners
  • Adding pocket parks wherever possible
  • Making Holcomb Bridge Road a gateway into the City
  • Adding left turns along Old Alabama Road to ease congestion
  • Constructing pedestrian paths between schools and existing subdivisions where possible
  • Adding sidewalks along Barnwell Road and Brumbelow Road with a connecting natural trail path between them

2. OCEE:


Top Land Use Concerns:
  • A lack of public park land,
  • The over development of vacant lands
  • Empty shopping centers
Top Transportation Concerns:
  • A lack of road connections
  • A lack of entrances/exits in subdivisions
  • Lack of pedestrian access between residential areas, schools, and shopping centers
To solve these issues, the group recommended:
  • Redeveloping underutilized shopping centers (such as the ones at Jones -Bridge/Sargent/Douglas and Jones Bridge/State Bridge) into low-intensity mixed-use, walkable shopping districts
  • Converting vacant parcels into parks or keeping them green
  • Placing a local road at Taylor Road Middle School and Chattahoochee High School to create another exit
  • Creating additional public streets around Jones Bridge Road and State Bridge Road to create additional ways around the intersection
  • Adding sidewalks along Jones Bridge Road, Parsons Road, Abbotts Bridge Road, and Sargent Road
  • Adding a back entrance to Seven Oaks

3. WARSAW/RIVER ESTATES/RIVER EAST:


Top Land Use Concerns:
  • A lack of public park land
  • The overdevelopment of vacant lands
  • Inappropriate land uses near residential subdivisions
  • Too many big box stores and shopping centers with large parking lots fronting the roadways
Top Transportation Concerns:
  • Poor signal timing
  • The lack of a local road connecting Old Alabama Road and State Bridge Road
  • No local way around the intersection of SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road and State Bridge -Road coming from all directions
  • The threat of widening the roadways
  • The lack of safe pedestrian access across SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road and State Bridge Road
  • Few sidewalks and trails connecting shopping centers and schools to nearby subdivisions.
Proposed solutions include:
  • Keeping the Medlock Bridge Corridor character area, but only allowing commercial, office, and civic land uses and confining it to parcels adjacent to SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road’s right-of-way
  • Developing a strategic plan for the future redevelopment of the area along SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road from Parsons Road to Medlock Crossing Parkway
  • Creating regulations that require undeveloped parcels of land abutting residential subdivisions to conform to the existing zoning of the subdivisions
  • Redeveloping underutilized shopping centers into walkable shopping districts;
  • Purchasing available large tracts of land to use as future park lands
  • Placing a local road be placed through the Perimeter Church property to connect Old Alabama Road and State Bridge Road
  • Creating public streets either around or through the shopping center parking lots at SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road at State Bridge Road to get around the intersection
  • Locating roundabouts at the following locations: Old Alabama Road/Buice Road, Old Alabama Road/Thornhill entrance, Wilson Road/Abbotts Bridge Road, Bell Road/Abbotts Bridge Road, and Parsons Road/Abbotts Road

4. SHAKERAG:


Top Land Use Concerns:
  • Containing commercial growth within limits of Technology Park (including Standard Club)
  • Utilizing land along the Chattahoochee for a ‘Shakerag’ greenway.
  • Developing lands that are currently designated as conservation easements (should they be developed) as low-density (1-3 units/acre) residential housing.
  • Pine straw business at McGinnis Ferry and Bell Roads:
  • Desire for ‘pop-up’ patio business, beer garden/food truck, and art installation space
Top Transportation Concerns:
  • The widening of McGinnis Ferry Road into 6 lanes needs to occur, but the design should be neighborhood friendly
  • SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road should be kept as 4 lanes
  • All other roads to be kept/maintained at two lanes
  • Lack of multi-use trails
  • Lack of sidewalks – they should be everywhere
Proposed solutions include:
  • New developments should provide connections to existing roads.
  • Need to study school traffic to see where improvements can be made to relieve congestion and provide safer routes for students
  • Place roundabouts at intersections of Rogers Bridge Road, Bell Road, and Rogers Circle, and entrances at Foxdale subdivisions.