Planning commission backs rezoning for 5-acre gas station and convenience store at Good Hope Road

The Walton County Planning Commission voted Feb. 5 to recommend rezoning a 5-acre parcel at Good Hope Road and the new bypass from A-1/R-1 to B-3 for a convenience store, fuel pumps and retail space. Andrea Gray, representing the applicant Nikhil Agarwal, presented a concept plan that includes a roughly 4,000-square-foot convenience store, fuel pumps (with a maximum of two diesel pumps), retail space and the potential for a fast-food tenant. Commission members heard no opposition and approved the recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.

Gray told the commission the plan devotes about half the site to development and half to septic and on-site stormwater management, and she said the applicant has coordinated with the Georgia Department of Transportation on driveway placement. "We spent a good bit of time working with GDOT on where the entrances would be," Gray said, and the project would finance any required GDOT entrance improvements.

The commission voted to forward a recommendation for approval; the Board of Commissioners will consider final action on March 3. The rezoning would permit commercial activity at a prominent bypass intersection and includes conditions and design expectations that will be reviewed as part of the county’s permitting process.