A proposed townhome complex near the MidCoast Regional Airport got the signal to go ahead from Hinesville City Council.
The proposed complex, off Old Sunbury Road, stretches across the Hinesville and Flemington city limits, and needs approval from both bodies. Called The Meadows, the approximately 52 townhomes will be built on 13.4 acres.
“If you travel that road, you know that is a busy road,” Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission Executive Director Jeff Ricketson said.
The builders will put in leftturn and right-turn lanes coming into the project, Ricketson said.
“So that will alleviate any bottlenecks coming from this development,” he said.
The townhomes will not go past 35 feet in height, to which the Federal Aviation Administration agreed. Elliott Wilson of M.E. Sack Engineering said they initially looked at making those apartments.
“That raised a lot of red flags,” he said.
A number of cottages, which have been there for decades, and a recreational vehicle park currently on the site. The cottages and the RV park will be removed.
The development lies within the Fort Stewart installation’s noise protection zone two, which requires sound attenuation and deed disclosures that there might be additional noise. “The preferred development is non-residential,” Ricketson said. “But if there is residential, they recommend sound attenuation and deed disclosure be included.”
Wilson said that the townhome construction, with shared walls and thicker walls, will help reduce noise.
It is also adjacent to a cemetery, the New Hope Cemetery, and there will be a 30-foot buffer around it.
Wilson said the builders will be applying for workforce housing grant, and the rezoning application narrative notes “affordable modern housing is becoming increasingly scarce as the surrounding area’s population grows.” They also will have to do off-site utilities work.
“With it situated next to Fort Stewart, the majority of the residents will be taking a left on going on to the base,” Wilson told council members.
A traffic study also will be conducted and it will determine the taper lengths for the turn lanes.
Council members also approved the final plat for a 51-lot single-family subdivision on West 15th Street, to be called The Glen at Fifteen West.
Also approved was the design approval for an apartment complex of five buildings and 36 units on Memorial Drive, between Domino’s Pizza and the Steven Cohen Military Family Clinic. The units will be two or three bedrooms and the buildings will be three stories tall.
Design approval from city council is necessary because the property is in the Hinesville Downtown Redevelopment Overlay District.
In a 3-1 vote, with Council member Diana Reid casting the dissenting vote, council members approved rezoning .8 acres off Mattie Lane from general commercial to multi-family residential. The property has been used as a mobile home park.
The owners, Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission Executive Director Jeff Ricketson said, want to demolish the eight-unit mobile home park and put up 20 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments. There are three mobile homes on site and none are occupied currently.
“I think most of the mobile homes on the property will be condemned,” said Jay Maupin of Maupin Engineering, which is the agent for the property’s owners. “We’re looking forward to getting it cleaned up.”
The apartments are designed for executive rentals, for those who are in town from six to 18 months, such as contractors, those on short-term deployments or traveling nurses. Maupin said a portion of the apartments will be directed toward that.
“I’m more concerned with income-based housing for people who are already here who can’t afford a place to live,” Reid said.
Maupin said there could be a 60/40 split with the executive rentals, and added there is a need for traveling nurses.
The complex will not have access off Highway 84.
Between fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the city issued 632 permits for residential construction, and has issued 118 so far in FY24. The city issued 28 permits for new residential construction in June.