By Jeff Gill
A vote on a gated 483-unit boat and RV storage business proposed off Cleveland Highway in North Hall, Fla., was tabled until Oct. 2. The 20-acre development would make up five parcels along a stretch of Cleveland Highway.
Dutton Properties of Gainesville, Fla., also plans to renovate one of two houses on the property and turn it into office space, according to Hall County planning documents. Other plans include adding a 10,800-square-foot storage building at the rear of the property next to a farm pond.
“Much of the remaining property is proposed to be utilized as covered or uncovered storage for boats and RVs,” documents state.
A wrought iron fence with brick columns will wrap around the front of the property, including the entrance. “Landscaping will be planted in front of this fence to further enhance the aesthetics and screen the project from the highway,” according to documents.
The business “will provide a low-impact, low-traffic use along the Cleveland Highway corridor and the surrounding residential properties,” Dutton says in its application. Also, it will be a “lake-supportive land use as recommended” by the county’s Comprehensive Future Land Use Plan.
County planning staff disagree, saying the business is “inconsistent” with the plan for the “lake area residential” designation in the area. The area is close to Lake Lanier, with homes mainly lining that part of Cleveland Highway.
Dutton is seeking to rezone the property from agricultural-residential and planned commercial district to light industrial, but officials recommend denial of the project, which went before the Hall County Planning Commission on Monday, September 18.
The planning board would make a formal recommendation of approval or denial to the Hall County Board of Commissioners, which is set to take final action at an October public hearing.
Jeff Gill is a reporter for the Gainesville Times.
