Council holds first reading on rezoning for 300,000-square-foot warehouse, adds site stipulations
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Summary
At a first reading on April 13, Mableton City staff and council discussed REZ2025-011, a request to rezone about 21.55 acres from mobile-home park to light industrial for a 300,000-square-foot distribution warehouse. Staff recommended approval with stipulations addressing buffering, truck routing and prohibitions on data centers and detention centers; the case returns for second reading and public hearing April 22.
Mableton’s City Council on April 13 held a first reading of REZ2025-011, a rezoning request to convert roughly 21.55 acres from Mobile Home Park to Light Industrial for construction of a 300,000-square-foot distribution warehouse. Deputy Director Tina Garver presented staff’s recommendation to approve the zoning change with detailed stipulations on site plan, buffering, access and environmental controls.
Garver told council the proposed zoning would be site-plan specific and include buffering and screening where the parcel borders an existing mobile home park to the north. She said stipulations would require building and loading orientation away from residential areas, compliance with stormwater rules, lighting and noise mitigation, and utility upgrades as needed. Garver also said the applicant must combine the parcel into a single lot before a land-disturbance permit is issued.
"The stipulations require that truck traffic be directed to arterial or collector roadways," Garver said, adding that signage and access management may be used to discourage truck travel through residential streets. The planning commission recommended that the property not be used as a data center and staff supplemented that recommendation to also bar its use as a detention center.
Councilman Ron Davis raised concerns about trucks accessing Riverside Parkway and passing through residential neighborhoods en route to State Route 20. Henry Bailey, counsel for the applicant, said the applicant will work to limit truck routing and can place tenant agreements or lease language encouraging traffic to use the preferred industrial routes.
Garber and Bailey said the fire marshal did not require more than a single site entrance; staff noted designs should minimize conflicts between truck and vehicle traffic at that entrance and the site will direct industrial traffic onto Oak Ridge Commerce Way and Oak Ridge Road toward Thornton Road or Riverside Parkway to reach the interstate.
No formal vote was taken on the rezoning tonight; Garver said the ordinance will return for second reading and a public hearing on April 22. The applicant agreed to the stipulations summarized by staff.
What’s next: REZ2025-011 is scheduled for second reading and a public hearing on April 22, when council may consider final action.
