Paulding planning panel recommends Hiram rezoning for 319-unit mixed-use project with conditions

The Paulding County Planning Commission on July 8 recommended that the City of Hiram consider rezoning roughly 50 acres along U.S. 278 (Windy Bagwell Parkway) and Poplar Springs Road to the city’s new mixed-use district for a proposed Blue River Development LLC community that would include up to 319 townhome and single-family residential units.

The commission’s recommendation includes the staff-proposed 11 stipulations and five additional conditions the commission added at the meeting: a $500 per-lot payment to the school system at final plats, a 10% cap on rentals in the development, a prohibition on apartment units, no townhomes along the rear boundary as currently laid out, and a required developer agreement with Paulding County Water and Sewer for sewer expansion.

Why it matters: the project would change zoning along a busy corridor where utilities and traffic capacity were central concerns for commissioners and nearby residents. The conditions aim to address school impact, affordable-rental concentration, sewer capacity and neighborhood buffering before final consideration by the City of Hiram.

Staff presentation and applicant responses Rob Robinson, planning staff, opened the application (2025-03-Z) and noted the item had been tabled at the June 24 meeting. Robinson said staff recommended approval with 11 stipulations and that one voluntary stipulation from the applicant would provide a $500-per-residential-unit payment to the school system at final plat.

Rob Hosack, representing Blue River Development, confirmed the proposal and answered commission questions about additional voluntary terms. Hosack said the developer would accept a 10% rental cap and would not build apartment units. He also said the developer would work with county staff on buffer planting and agreed that 26 single-family homes would be built along the southern border in place of townhomes, if that was made a stipulation.

Infrastructure and buffering concerns Commissioners pressed on sewer capacity and roadway planning. Staff explained that the local sewer basin currently is at capacity and that a developer agreement would be required to contribute to the Cadillac outfall expansion (identified at the hearing as the system improvement needed to accept new flow). The commission also discussed a neighbor request for a 75-foot buffer; the applicant offered a 10–15-foot planted buffer to be approved during plan review.

Traffic and intergovernmental coordination were raised: staff said the county submitted a concept report on U.S. 278 to the Georgia Department of Transportation, but no funding or programmed project exists yet. Commissioners also noted that any annexation portion would be decided by the City of Hiram.

Voting and next steps Commissioner Leggett moved to deny the rezoning, citing public-safety, fire, sheriff and traffic impacts and stated opposition by state legislators; that motion received a second and produced a 3–3 vote and thus failed. A subsequent motion to approve the application with the original 10 staff stipulations plus the five additional stipulations passed after the chair broke a 3–3 tie in favor of recommendation. The planning commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City of Hiram for final consideration; the city’s hearing date will be set by its zoning administrator.

Discussion vs. formal action The commission’s discussion included negotiated, voluntary commitments from the developer (rental cap, school payment, buffer proposal). The developer repeatedly said it would honor the stipulations and would request the City of Hiram implement them if the property is annexed. The formal action by the planning commission was a recommendation to the City of Hiram, not a final zoning decision.

Context and outstanding items Key outstanding matters for the city and for plan review are the developer agreement for sewer expansion, final buffer and landscape details, any plan-review-level roadway or access requirements, and the formal handling of annexation. Commissioners and staff noted the county cannot require a city to retain voluntary stipulations after annexation, so the developer committed to communicate and request the city honor those terms.

Ending: what happens next The Planning Commission’s recommendation and the list of stipulations will be forwarded to the City of Hiram. The applicant and county staff will continue technical work on sewer agreements and plan-review items before the city’s public hearing.