The Bartow County Planning Commission denied a request to rezoning 25.5 acres on Cass-White Road for apartments after determining building 308 apartments doesn’t fit with the land use plan.
The votes to deny recommending changing the land use plan and rezoning the property at 1380 Cass-White Road were near unanimous in both votes with chairman Boyd Morris Jr. the sole vote to approve.
Michael Cohn of MDH F2 ATL Busch LLC, who owns the property, stood with attorney Keith Lovell before the board to answer questions. He explained the company bought the entire tract of 192 acres zoned Business Park Development (BPD) to build a warehouse.
“We always knew this parcel wasn’t suitable for commercial use,” Lovell said, adding that the smaller portion has since been partitioned out from the original partial.
“It’s getting a little confusing,” Morris said. “This is an industrial park.”
Departmental comments submitted concerns. The Bartow County Board of Education submitted a letter of opposition stating stress on the system additional residents families would put on the system. That is particularly true for White and Cass Elementary Schools, officials said.
Lovell said residences are needed for the area to accommodate 6,000 workers traveling daily to that industrial corridor.
“The schools adjust as needed for capacity. They will grow,” he said.
In other business, the board approved rezoning land at 315 Cassville Road from agricultural to commercial to allow for the current buildings on the .473-acre property to be rented as office space. Property owner Justin Galloway said businesses have always used one building but the rezoning was incorrect.
Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor will consider the planning board’s recommendations in his meeting March 11.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.