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Buford commission approves multiple Bennett Road rezonings with strict buffer, lighting and truck restrictions
Summary
The Buford City Commission approved rezoning five Bennett Road parcels to M-1 for Seefried Industrial Properties, imposing conditions including stream buffer protection, a 20-foot landscaped screen with tall evergreens, retaining-wall engineering requirements, cut-off lighting limited to 0.3 foot-candles spillover at residential lines, and a ban on truck traffic on Bennett Road.
Phillip Beard, chairman of the Buford City Commission, presided as the commission approved five rezoning requests from Seefried Industrial Properties that will change several Bennett Road parcels from RA-200 to M-1.
The commission voted 3–0 to approve the requests, each with identical conditions intended to protect adjacent residential uses. Vice-Chairman Chris Burge moved the motions and Commissioner Bradley W. Weeks seconded them.
Under the approvals, applicants must preserve a 50-foot undisturbed natural vegetative stream buffer and label an additional 25-foot impervious setback on site plans. Building elevations, including materials and colors, must be submitted to and approved by the Planning Director before land disturbance permits are issued; concrete tilt-up construction is allowed.
Developments must provide a 20-foot enhanced landscape strip along the right-of-way planted with a mix of evergreen trees at least 12 feet tall and shrubs at least 3 feet tall to screen views from Bennett Road. Where dissimilar zoning buffers are disturbed or where existing vegetation does not provide an effective screen, the applicants must submit a landscape plan detailing replanting and buffer enhancement for review and approval by the Planning Director.
Outdoor lighting is required to use fully cutoff fixtures directed onto the property, with spillover onto adjacent residential properties limited to no more than 0.3 foot-candles. Retaining-wall materials and locations must be reviewed and approved by the Planning Director prior to issuing land disturbance permits; any wall exceeding 4 feet must be designed and sealed by a Georgia-registered engineer.
Finally, the approvals prohibit truck traffic on Bennett Road.
The rezoning approvals covered parcels identified in agenda items #Z-25-03, #Z-25-04, #Z-25-05, #Z-25-06 and #Z-25-07; no members of the public spoke in opposition during the public hearing. The precise construction schedules, final site plans and any subsequent permit applications must follow the Planning Director’s review and the city’s development regulations.
