Proposed apartments at Ashley Park to expand? – Newnan Times-Herald
An applicant is requesting increased units for a multi-family apartment complex in the Ashley Park area.
The complex is located between the Newnan Crossing Bypass and Ashley Park Boulevard, and is bisected by a frontage road that connects the Belk department store to the Ashley Park stores. The applicant is requesting to go up from 278 models to 350.
According to city documents, this is an expansion to a proposed multi-family development that received a rezoning to MXD, or Mixed-Use Development District, at the Newnan City Council’s meeting on May 26, 2020. The particular approval was based on a plan that showed 4. 46 acres of commercial development and 3. 98 acres of multi-family development.
City documents state that the development has not yet started, and the applicant claims that the construction cost for the apartment portion has increased so significantly that the developer needs additional units “to make the project economically viable. ”
The new proposal calls for a six-level, 350-unit apartment building wrapped around a four-level parking deck with recreational amenities on a surface level above the deck. The maximum building height proposed in the amended plan is 75 feet.
The previous plan that had been approved involved a five-level, 278-unit apartment building with a maximum building elevation of 70 feet.
Under the proposal, the target mix of apartments would be 30 percent one-bedroom units, 60 percent two-bedroom units plus 10 percent three-bedroom units.
Amenities proposed for the apartment complex include a fitness center, pet services and grooming, and a clubhouse plus common area on the basement level. On the third level above the parking outdoor patio, a pool with adjacent sunning decks and a passive recreation area have been proposed.
In a letter to Planning and Zoning Director Tracy Dunnavant, Newnan Police Chief Brent Blankenship estimated an increase of 506 calls in a three-year period for the development, as well as 27 motor vehicle accidents and 329 traffic stops.
“There would be an increase of people and vehicle traffic to the area, ” Blankenship wrote. “It would have an impact upon motor vehicle accidents and calls of service to that region while also affecting call service and response times to other parts of the city. ”
Blankenship published he believed the advancement would produce a strain on calls for service and would generate additional maintenance upon equipment, but it could be managed at staff level.
Newnan Fire Chief Stephen Brown had written in a letter to Dunnavant that the development, if built out, would “impact the specific area with a significant increase in population and traffic. ”
In his letter, Brown compared the particular proposed 350-unit development with three other facilities — the 298-unit Ashley Recreation area Phase 3B apartment complicated, which generated 33 calls in a 12-month span; 72 additional units at Stillwood Apartments, which produced 19 calls; and the 320-unit Springs at Newnan complex, which produced 21 calls in a 12-month period of time.
Brown wrote that the impact of the proposal “may require additional equipment and manpower at the Newnan Fire Department in the future. ”
According to city documents, the commercial growth, proposed for the eastern portion of the site, will be unchanged. The commercial development will consist of around 55, 000 square feet of retail plus restaurant establishments with similar looks to other areas of Ashley Park.