Council approves condition change to allow 12 townhomes at 1457 Gus Thornhill with landscaping, lighting conditions

East Point — The City Council voted Dec. 15 to modify a prior rezoning condition and allow up to 12 townhome lots at 1457 Gus Thornhill Drive, overturning a limit that had capped the site at seven units.

Planning staff told the council the property (case P2025ZM-001-10) sits in the Cleveland Avenue overlay and that both the planning commission and staff recommended approval with added conditions. Kimberly Smith of the Planning and Community Development Department said the council had added a requirement that a revised landscaping and exterior-lighting plan be approved by the planning division before building permits are issued and fully implemented before any certificate of occupancy is granted.

The applicant, identified in the record as Mr. Ocoye, presented revised plans and economic rationale for the change, saying the new design lowers unit prices and better fits market demand: “The average price on our new design is gonna be about $289,000,” he told the council during his presentation.

Residents who live near the site spoke on both sides. Joan Lattimore and Maria Agney said they supported the project, including the staff conditions. Michelle Hunt, representing neighborhood concerns, urged the council to void the planning commission approval and argued the commission exceeded its authority and failed to meet overlay-design standards; she cited procedures and code sections she said were violated. Hunt told the council the commission’s handling “effectively granted a variance for prohibited use in violation of section 10-10-11,” and asked the council to require a land-use amendment first.

Smith responded that many of the design and setback matters Hunt raised would be addressed during site-plan and land-disturbance review, and that the petition before the council was narrowly limited to a modification of a zoning condition to increase density. Council members questioned whether a concurrent variance had been part of the original 2023 rezoning and whether alley-facing units would be permitted; staff said the land-disturbance and site-plan processes would enforce development standards.

Council voted to waive first reading and then to approve the amendment to ordinance 200-023, changing condition 4 from seven to 12 buildable lots and adding an explicit condition on landscaping and lighting along Irene Kidd and Gus Thornhill. The motion carried without recorded opposition.

What’s next: The applicant must submit and receive approval for the required landscaping and lighting plans before building permits are issued; those plans must be implemented before certificates of occupancy are granted.