Planning commission approves Portman Holdings Brookside mixed-use plan, OKs variances and 42 conditions

Alpharetta Planning Commission members voted on April 3 to forward a Portman Holdings proposal to city council to rezone and redevelop roughly 19.7 acres in the Brookside master plan (pod A) into a mixed-use project that would include office, retail, for-rent apartments and for-sale townhomes.

Michael Woodman, planning staff, summarized the application as a request for a master plan amendment and comprehensive land use plan change from corporate office to mixed use, rezoning from O&I (office institutional) to MU (mixed use), conditional uses for dwelling units for rent and for sale, and three variances. The applicant proposes retaining one existing office building (approximately 130,000 square feet total office across the site, with 30,000 sq ft retained in the existing building), constructing a five-story, ~335-unit for-rent building wrapped around a six-level parking deck, creating about 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and delivering 75 for-sale townhomes at the south end of the site.

Why it matters: the site sits adjacent to the city’s 30-acre Brookside Park and Georgia State University’s Alpharetta campus, and is within the Brookside Small Area Plan area identified for retrofit and mixed-use redevelopment in the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Staff and the applicant say the proposal aims to convert an underused suburban office park into a walkable activity node and to provide an off-site trail connection to the Big Creek Greenway.

Key approvals and variances

Staff recommended approval subject to 42 conditions. The three variances requested are: (1) reduce the MU minimum lot size from 25 acres to 19.68 acres (the property is part of a larger 84-acre pod A); (2) increase the shared-parking reduction the city’s Unified Development Code (UDC) allows staff to approve from 25% up to 27% (the applicant asked for the extra 2%); and (3) reduce the required driveway separation for curb cuts on Brookside Parkway, which are already legal nonconforming and being adjusted slightly. An additional variance for a reduced landscape strip along Old Milton Parkway was withdrawn after the applicant agreed to meet the 20-foot planting strip requirement.

Project design, open space and infrastructure

P…