Coweta commissioners approve variance for Yamaha/DHL warehouse with screening, buffer and sole-use condition
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Summary
The Coweta County Board of Commissioners on March 3 approved variance vAR25-22 for a proposed Yamaha Motor Manufacturing/DHL supply facility in Newnan, allowing reduced exterior 'Category A' materials with seven conditions including 800 screening trees, a 50-foot undisturbed buffer and a restriction that the warehouse be used only for goods and materials used by Yamaha in its adjacent plant.
The Coweta County Board of Commissioners voted on March 3 to approve variance vAR25-22, allowing Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Company (doing business as DHL Supply Chain USA) to deviate from the Quality Development Corridor District exterior material requirements for a proposed roughly 784,700-square-foot, about 60-foot-tall parts distribution facility at the northeast intersection of Interstate Way and Highway 34 East in Newnan.
Community development staff briefed the board that the applicant’s revised elevations reduced the percentage of Category A materials on several elevations and that staff’s recommendation included conditions to address transportation, design consistency and screening. "Based on staff review of the revised elevations and renderings, the applicant is proposing... reductions in Category A materials by elevation," said Miss Eschman, community development staff, summarizing the percentages presented to the board.
The Board of Zoning Appeals had unanimously recommended denial at its Jan. 29 hearing; the applicant presented new renderings at the Feb. 17 commission meeting and the board deferred to allow staff time to review the revisions. Commissioners discussed the ordinance’s purpose in the QDCD and the tradeoffs between design standards and economic development. One commissioner said, "Yamaha has been a valued corporate citizen in this county for decades," urging the board to consider the company’s long-term local presence.
During debate a commissioner proposed two additional conditions: that the applicant install a minimum of 800 trees along State Road 34 and Interstate Way and establish and maintain a 50-foot undisturbed buffer outside the State Road 34 right of way that meets Article 25 buffer requirements; and that the warehouse be limited to storing goods and materials used by Yamaha in its adjacent manufacturing facility. County legal counsel cautioned that imposing a private party’s right of first refusal over land transfer was not an appropriate zoning condition. The board adopted the staff conditions, modified language tying the building to the revised elevations and the two added conditions and then voted to approve the variance; the motion carried without recorded opposition.
The approved conditions also require that the building be constructed consistent with the elevations and materials presented to the board on Feb. 17, that the applicant comply with attachments referenced in staff materials, and that a curvilinear drive entrance be provided from Highway 34 as shown on the submitted site plan. Staff said the applicant must meet the buffer plantings required under Article 25 and that the community development department will work with the applicant on the practical application of the 800-tree requirement if site constraints arise.
What happens next: the variance is approved with conditions and will be enforced through community development's permitting and site plan review; the board did not alter zoning for the underlying parcel at this meeting.
