Neighbors say proposed Lexstone Road plan will create traffic and safety hazards

Residents who live adjacent to the proposed Lexstone Road development urged the Barrow County Planning Commission to deny a developer’s request to change zoning conditions, saying it would create a safety hazard for people trying to exit their driveways and for emergency responders.

Melissa Tillery said the developer “snuck in a completely different plan,” and that a new entrance close to her Freeman Johnson Road driveway would make it difficult to leave her home and could impede emergency service access. David Kusher, representing Cruz Lake subdivision, presented a handout of police-reported accidents and said Freeman Johnson at SR‑211 has seen 32 reported accidents since 2018. Kusher said earlier plans included an exit to SR‑211; the current concept removes that exit and would place both entrances on Freeman Johnson, which he said would shift traffic onto an intersection he believes the settlement required the developer to fix.

Staff (the planning presenter) told commissioners that the item before them was a change-in-conditions and that final entrance locations will be determined through later review; the concept plan remains under staff review. Commissioners asked questions about the settlement obligations and traffic mitigation. One resident estimated the revised concept could add “up to 1,800 cars a day” based on extrapolations from prior traffic numbers; Kusher described a calculation projecting roughly 1,823 trips per day for the proposed 249 units in the plan.

Commission business: a motion was made to deny the requested change-in-conditions; the commission called for a show-of-hands vote. The transcript records the motion and the call for votes but does not provide a roll-call tally or a final recorded disposition on the record. The staff noted, and the chair repeated, that any final action and conditions will move to the Board of Commissioners for its Sept. 10 meeting.