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Board approves rezoning for Ball Ground Business Park with limits on building size and access
Summary
The Cherokee County commissioners approved a rezoning of 69 acres off East Cherokee Drive to light industrial, adding conditions to limit total square footage, restrict buildings and entrances that face Coker's Chapel Road, and require loading docks be at the rear of buildings.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 16 to rezone a 69-acre property near East Cherokee Drive and Coker's Chapel Road to light industrial, approving the change with four conditions intended to limit traffic and visual impacts on adjacent roads.
The applicant, Ball Ground Business Park LLC (represented by attorney Parks Huff), sought rezoning of the site from Office & Institutional (O&I) and R-80 to light industrial for a proposed industrial park of up to 325,000 square feet of buildings. The Planning Commission had previously denied the request; the county board held an additional public hearing before voting to reconsider.
After public discussion and questions about access and truck traffic on Coker's Chapel Road, Commissioner Wetherbee made a motion to approve with conditions. The board approved the application by unanimous voice vote. The conditions added by the board limit total building area on the site to 325,000 square feet; limit the number of entrances on Coker's Chapel Road to two; cap the total square footage of buildings that front Coker's Chapel at 80,000 square feet with no single building on that side exceeding 40,000 square feet; and require that any loading docks be located to the rear of buildings (i.e., not facing the roads).
Applicant representative Parks Huff and staff went through site constraints, including streams, steep topography, and proximity to the Water Authority maintenance yard and an existing transfer station across East Cherokee Drive. Commissioners said the proposed buildings are small-to-mid-size (many at 40,000 square feet on the northern edge) and likely to attract local industrial or service tenants rather than large logistics centers.
Commissioner Wetherbee said he expected to approve the project but telegraphed that the board might consider a later amendment if a tenant proposed a larger building; Parks Huff said the developer would be comfortable with limiting the size of buildings on the Coker's Chapel frontage as described. The motion to approve with the four conditions passed unanimously (no recorded no votes or abstentions).
Why it matters: The rezoning adds light-industrial capacity in an area already used by utilities and industrial operations and includes conditions designed to limit truck traffic onto smaller residential roads and protect nearby neighborhoods.
