Columbus, Georgia

Subject: (EXCP-10-12-2959) Special Exception to allow Existing Buildings in Neighborhood

Commercial Districts that are Greater than 5,000 Square Feet Under Roof for the

Property located at 3604 Macon Road.

Trey Carmack has submitted an application for the Special Exception cited

above. The property is located in an NC (Neighborhood Commercial) Zoning

District. The purpose of the Special Exception is to allow uses within the

buildings located at 3604 Macon Road to exceed the use size limit of 5,000

square feet.

1. Access. - Is or will the type of street providing access to the use be adequate to serve the proposed special exception use?
   (1) Access: Is street access to the building adequate to serve one or more
   
   permitted uses that occupy more than 5,000 gross square feet in the building?
   
   
   
   The local streets providing access to the property will be adequate for
   
   neighborhood commercial uses (within said buildings).
2. Traffic and Pedestrian Safety. - Is or will access into and out of the property be adequate to provide for traffic and pedestrian safety, the anticipated volume of traffic flow, and access by emergency vehicles?
   (2) Traffic and Pedestrian Safety: Is or will access into and out of the
   
   property be adequate to provide for traffic and pedestrian safety, the
   
   anticipated volume of traffic flow, and access by emergency vehicles if there
   
   are one or more permitted uses that occupy more than 5,000 gross square feet in
   
   the building?
   
   
   
   Currently access is adequate to serve the existing/proposed uses. The existing
   
   buildings have been in existence for numerous years and have three access
   
   points from Macon Road and Martha?s Loop.
3. Adequacy of Public Facilities. - Are or will public facilities such as schools, water or sewer utilities, and police or fire protection be adequate to serve the special exception use?
   (3) Adequacy of Public Facilities: Are or will public facilities such as water
   
   or sewer utilities, and police or fire protection be adequate to one or more
   
   permitted uses that occupy more than 5,000 gross square feet in the building?
   
   
   
   The proposed use is served by all city services. There will be no school
   
   impact.
4. Protection from Adverse Affects. - Are or will refuse, service, parking and loading areas on the property be located or screened to protect other properties in the area from such adverse effects as noise, light, glare or odor?
   N/A
5. Hours of Operation. - Will the hours and manner of operation of the special exception use have no adverse effects on other properties in the area?
   N/A
6. Compatibility. - Will the height, size or location of the buildings or structures on the property be compatible with the height, size, character or location of buildings or other structures on neighboring properties?
   N/A

2



Thirty (30) property owners within 300 feet of the parcel were notified by

letter of the proposed Special Exception Use. To date, the Planning Department

has received one inquiry concerning the Special Exception Use request and did

not expressed any objections to the proposed request.



Additional Information: The Market Place on Macon Road was built in 1985. At

the back of the existing property there is a 9,620 square foot space built for

the Internal Revenue Service on spec that they have used since 1988. At the

front of the center there is a 11,700 sq. ft. space that was used as office for

the Social Security Administration intake facility for Columbus from 2003 to

2006. The applicant stated that the IRS will be vacating the space at the end

of this year and that they would like to find a tenant who can use the entire

space as an office or call center. This would likely mean a reduction in

overall traffic to the building because there would be fewer public needs to

visit.



The applicant also expressed that the current use classification allows them to

do everything they want except for the requirement that uses be less than 5,000

sq. ft., so they don?t have any intent to rezone the property to general

commercial. A use of 5,000 or more sq. ft. is only allowed in a GC (General

Commercial) zoning district.

The Planning Advisory Commission recommended approval at the November 7, 2012

meeting.



The Planning Department recommends that the Council approves the use because

the application for a Special Exception use meets the criteria for approval.

• Land Use Map.pdf
• Site Plan.pdf

• Land Use Map.pdf 
• Site Plan.pdf