Planning staff, applicants describe special-use and variances for sorority house at 480 South Milledge Avenue

Athens-Clarke County planning staff and the applicant described a special-use permit application for 480 South Mill (Milledge) Avenue on Oct. 21. The request seeks approval to convert an existing commercial-office property and adjacent apartments into sorority assembly space and housing, to replace a front building, and to grant seven variances tied to lot coverage, landscaping, floor-area ratio and parking.

Bruce (last name not given in the public transcript), a planning director, told the commission the site is currently densely covered and the proposal would replace the front building with a two-story structure (with full basement), reconfigure parking, and add five on-site spaces. The applicant requested variances including: increase of lot coverage from 65% to 85.1%; reduction of required landscaped area from 35% to 14.9%; increase of the floor area ratio from 0.5 to 0.65; a reduction of required on-site parking related to assembly space (planning staff summarized 154 required by code down to 35 on-site plus 45 off-site under an agreement); reduced tree canopy conservation requirements (conserved canopy from 25% to 7.3% and total canopy from 50% to 32.5%).

Planning staff told the commission that existing site conditions already exceed the overlay’s lot coverage and have less than 10% conserved tree canopy. The planning commission reviewed the application at its earlier meeting, recommended approval of the special use, and recommended approval of all seven variances with two conditions: construction of a direct sidewalk connection from the front of the new building to the public sidewalk along Milledge Avenue, and recording of a parking agreement with Clark County School District (or alternative acceptable to the planning director) prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

Applicant representative Armitrot Matheny Thurman (recorded as Bridal Thurman in the transcript) told the commission the design revisions addressed Fire Marshal concerns (12-foot drive aisles and Fire Department connections) and included a stormwater detention solution beneath the parking area. Thurman said there would be sufficient on-site parking for residents and the housemother, and that a recorded shared-parking agreement with Clark Central High School had been proposed for event overflow. Thurman said the plan received a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Committee and that the applicant agreed to the two planning commission conditions.

Commissioners raised questions about parking-management details, the duration and enforceability of off-site parking arrangements, tree-planting locations and canopy coverage, and whether the variances were largely driven by existing nonconforming site conditions. Staff confirmed the requested variances largely reflected existing nonconformities but that the plan proposes a net increase in trees on the finished site. The commission took no final land-use vote that evening; the item will return through the planning/review process during the regular rezoning and permitting steps.

The planning commission recommended approval of the special use and variances, subject to the two conditions described above.