Work continues at Exit 130 of I-20 in Greene County on a new Holiday Inn Express, Longhorn Steak House and RaceTrac gas station that will soon join recently opened Starbucks and Jersey Mike’s shops.
More retail, commercial, and residential development is planned for that area south of the Greensboro exit, which has become popular for developers seeing the explosive growth in the county’s Lake Oconee area.
The two lanes of Hwy 44 continue to be used by delivery tractor-trailer rigs, trucks loaded with freshly cut trees heading to sawmills, and other large vehicles.
On the north side of I-20, two development projects now being considered by the City of Greensboro could dramatically increase the truck traffic from the exit to the Greene County Industrial Park. The two-lane road now handles trucks from the industrial park and the Novelis aluminum recycling plant.
The larger of the new projects is a proposed 364-acre “eco-friendly” light industrial park off Highway 44, directly across from the Industrial Park that includes the former Athens Tech building. The land is currently in Greene County but the developer is asking for it to be annexed by Greensboro to have access to city utilities, such as water and sewer.
The application for rezoning from Agriculture to L-1 (Light Industrial) includes a conceptual drawing that shows five 60-foot-tall buildings with a combined total of approximately 2.66 million square feet. One of the buildings is listed at 1.25-million square feet alone and developers are seeking a variance from the L-1 zoning restriction of 500,000 square feet.
The application does not indicate what is planned at the site but the L-1 zoning allows a wide variety of manufacturing, repair, assembly, or processing uses.
Examples include cold storage plants, sawmills, contractor storage, baking and food processing plants, as well as fish and poultry houses but do not include the on-site slaughter or processing of animals.
The application says there will be 1,065 parking spaces for employees and 506 spaces for trucks. A traffic impact study posted by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs indicates the project would add 1,725 vehicles per day to the road.
Greene County Economic Development Director David Dubois says the county industrial park is not connected with this new development. Still, he is worried about potential truck traffic between this project and the interstate.
“I guess my concern is how are the roads going to be able to handle that?” Dubois told the Lake Oconee News. “Some of the other things going in are not going to have that much traffic volume but this one seems to be quite a bit.”
The developer, Grind Capital Group, projects that approximately $2 million in tax revenue would be generated annually for the city.
Justin Golshir, a representative for the developer, would not answer questions about the project. In a short telephone call with the Lake Oconee News, he said, “Sorry, I can’t help you” before hanging up.
The application will be considered by the City Planning and Zoning Commission at its regular meeting on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. It is scheduled to be considered by the city council in November.
Truck parking facility
The smaller project – a proposed truck, RV, and boat parking facility on about 11 acres of land along Old Eatonton Road at Town Creek Boulevard – would have 120 spaces but not all would be occupied at the same time. The developer, Brooks Pennington of BPIV Development, has requested a rezoning of the property from B-1 Neighborhood Convenience Commercial to B-2 General Commercial Highway Oriented.
“We’re starting to see a tremendous need for truck parking,” Pennington told the Greensboro Planning and Zoning Commission last month. “You’ve got a lot of these owner-operators that want to be able to get on the road and drive, want to go work for trucking companies but they can’t park their truck in neighborhoods. It's an issue across the United States.”
The commission voted to recommend to the city council approval of the rezoning with a list of conditions.
City Council is expected to decide at its regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. in Festival Hall.
Government meetings such as the City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission are open to the public.
Hwy 44 widening
The long-proposed widening to four lanes of Highway 44 is now estimated to begin construction starting at the I-20 interchange no sooner than 2026. It’s unclear if the four lanes will start at the industrial parks or closer to I-20 at Town Creek Boulevard as some maps suggest.
That would leave part of the road north of I-20 serving new and existing developments at two lanes, as it is currently.