Athens hearing on Pomeroy Road rezoning pits neighbors’ flooding and safety concerns against developer’s plan for 50 affordable units

Athens City Council held a public hearing Feb. 3 on a request to rezone an 8.237-acre parcel on Pomeroy Road from R-1 (single-family) to R-3 (multi-family) to allow a proposed 50-unit affordable rental building. Council paused other business and allotted extended comment time to a neighborhood task force and the developer, Spire Development, before returning to the regular agenda.

The neighborhood group opposing the rezoning warned that the site is a known flood storage area and said filling it would push water downstream. Jerry Miller, speaking for the Lamar Heights–Pomeroy Road Community Task Force, characterized the site as low-lying and “prone to floods,” said the road is narrow and has a blind curve, and called the proposed 3-story, roughly 45,000-square-foot building out of scale with nearby one-story homes and businesses.

Why it matters: The dispute pits the city’s stated need for more affordable housing against local residents’ concerns about public safety, stormwater management and the character of a neighborhood already contending with concentrated rental developments.

Spir…