The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners approved a set of comments and requests to the City of Canton regarding two proposed annexations near FateCon Road and Ball Ground Highway.

Staff presented the City of Canton’s notifications and recommended comments for two separate annexations: Annexation 2509002 (Targhee Partners, LLC) at 2829 Ball Ground Highway — roughly 48.24 acres proposed for 194 single-family units, 1.3 acres of commercial use and about 7.85 acres of industrial/commercial use — and an annexation at 3632 FateCon Road (Legacy Design and Development LLC), approximately 4.85 acres proposed for a 28-lot single-family subdivision.

Public comment preceded the planning discussion. Kathy Johns and Krista Thompson, both Park Village residents, described traffic and safety problems at the FateCon/Highway 5 intersection and asked the county to require traffic studies and improvements before annexation-related approvals proceed. “Our main concern is the traffic that both of these projects are going to create on FateCon, which is already a nightmare,” Kathy Johns told the board. Krista Thompson said the intersection is frequently backed up, described recent fatal crashes in the area and urged traffic-calming or design fixes such as turn lanes, a roundabout or a signal.

Planning staff (Ms. Long) told the board that for the Ball Ground Highway annexation the county's comments should request that, if the city approves residential uses, the city consider a lower density and shift the land use balance toward commercial/industrial uses to conform with county and city future land-use maps designating that property as a workplace or employment center. Staff also asked the board to request transportation improvements including a left-turn lane and deceleration lanes on Old Vandiver Road and Ball Ground Highway; fire commented that two full entrances should be sufficiently separated to meet county requirements. The staff report noted the site is within the growth boundary agreement with Canton and that water and sewer would be provided by Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority at Old Vandiver.

For the FateCon Road annexation, staff flagged a density of about 5.7 dwelling units per acre and recommended maintaining buffers, providing a 65-foot building setback from FateCon (a minor collector), a five-foot no-access easement along the FateCon frontage, and installation of a deceleration lane at the entrance.

The board asked staff to emphasize that the county retains jurisdiction over access and transportation improvements at the relevant intersections, and directed staff to ask Canton to consider lower residential density on the larger Ball Ground Highway parcel and to ensure the development conforms as closely as possible with the county and city land-use plans. The board voted unanimously to transmit the edited staff response to Canton.

Votes

The motion to submit the staff responses and comments to the City of Canton passed unanimously (4-0).