Smyrna planning commission recommends 840 Gateway annexation and PUD with conditions on phasing, buffers and truck access

The Smyrna Municipal Planning Commission voted Nov. 6 to recommend annexation and PUD zoning for the 840 Gateway site (52 Properties LLC) along Mona Road and Bill France Road, subject to staff comments and several additional conditions required by commissioners.

The project covers a mixed area: roughly 34.3 acres designated to meet C-2 (commercial) standards and about 190.95 acres to be developed under I-2 (industrial) standards. Staff described proposed limits and prohibitions: a 350,000-square-foot cap in the commercial portion and a 2.5 million-square-foot cap in the industrial area. The applicant requested a 60-foot height limit in the I-2 portion (town code default is 50 feet). Kevin, planning staff, summarized the utilities timeline: “Sewer ... will not exist until the the trunk line gets extended, which is approximately 2 years at minimum,” and noted a Consolidated Utility District (CUD) agreement for water remains unsigned.

Why it mattered: commissioners pressed the developer and staff on public-safety access, traffic impacts and how phasing could leave industrial buildings with only a single connection to Mona Road. Staff and the applicant described a multi-phased buildout that would extend Coulter Court through the site; the commission concluded the internal road connection must be completed before or as part of the start of phase 3 so later buildings would not rely solely on Mona Road for ingress and egress.

Traffic and neighborhood protections: project materials and a traffic consultant (Jason Weaver, GM Civil) showed most trip generation at full buildout would be driven by commercial uses rather than industrial uses. Weaver said the first three industrial phases account for a modest share of ultimate traffic and that up-to-date traffic-impact analyses will be required with each site-plan application. Commissioners nonetheless inserted a condition requiring the internal L-connection to be constructed (the commission directed it to be completed before phase 3). Staff had recommended 4-foot added shoulders on Mona Road; the developer’s submittal showed 2-foot shoulders and enforcement of truck-parking restrictions remained a concern because much of the road in question remains a county road outside town jurisdiction until annexed.

Buffering, signs and architectural revisions: the developer provided additional landscape buffering and stepped building heights as concessions to neighbors: reduced height (40 feet) for the first 100 feet from adjacent property lines, 50 feet in the next 100 feet, then the requested 60 feet farther inward. The developer stated a willingness to “commit to doing a 100-foot landscape buffer” adjacent to nearby homes, and also revised sign standards to monument-only signs with setbacks from rights of way.

Commission conditions and vote: a commissioner moved to recommend approval with staff comments but excluding staff comment 16 (the shoulder detail), and to add three explicit conditions: (1) no truck traffic allowed on the portion of Mona Road south of the complex; (2) the internal road connection (Coulter Court extension/L-shaped link) must be constructed and available before phase 3 begins (commission discussion favored requiring it by phase 2); and (3) a 100-foot landscape buffer for any residence within 1,000 feet of the development. The motion was seconded and passed; one commissioner opposed on the record, saying the CUD water agreement had not yet been signed. The motion sent the annexation/PUD forward to town council for their hearings and readings.

What remains: staff noted several outstanding items that council will expect to be resolved before final approvals, including completion of the CUD water agreement, final phasing language in the development plan, and detailed traffic and stormwater permitting work. The commission asked staff and the developer to return with updated traffic-impact analyses for future site plans and to make the internal road sequencing and truck-movement restrictions explicit in conditions sent to council.

Commissioners, staff and speakers quoted in this summary are drawn from the Nov. 6 transcript: Kevin (planning staff) and Jason Weaver (GM Civil) for technical briefings; Paul (developer representative) committed to the 100-foot buffer during discussion; multiple commissioners pressed for the sequencing condition and enforcement approach. The recommendation now moves to Smyrna town council for formal readings and final action.