Blackwhit Partners withdrawals rezoning, variance requests for Addington Knoll

Toccoa’s Community Development Director Connie Tabor has announced that the developer looking to develop land on Addington Drive has withdrawn its rezoning and variance requests.

Blackwhit Partners, LLC, had under contract two parcels containing approximately 14 acres located off of Addington Drive to develop a subdivision with 44 homes called Addington Knoll.

In a letter from Blackwhit Partners’ Nat Ackerman, he says the reason to withdraw their application was for many reasons.

He writes “foremost were the financial considerations. This project was at best a high risk, low profit deal. We would have no opportunity to develop to a land disturbance permit and then sell the entire land. There is no market for that in Toccoa. It would have had to be fully developed lots to attract a builder and sell. Also, the added costs of a traffic study and environmental study placed on us along with the possibility of having to do a second entrance which would have reduced the lot count did not help as well.”

Additionally, Ackerman says the amount of community and political opposition to the rezoning was not expected.

In his letter he explained that he was part of “a group willing to commit almost $2-million to develop sorely needed lots and homes in a location that fit the project very well.”

As WNEG News previously reported, several residents spoke out against the development during a recent Toccoa Planning Commission meeting. During that meeting, Travis Dobbs was one resident who was against the proposed development.

Dobbs says the development wasn’t carefully thought out.

“I’m not opposed to growth, but I am opposed to putting it in a location that would be detrimental to the current members living in the subdivision. The current homes there are in the $300-$400-thousand price range, with lots a minimum size of 1 to three acres. If you build 44 houses in this very desirable, exclusive neighborhood, there’s absolutely no way it’s not going to lower the property values of the people that live there,” he said.

Lenny Cannon was another resident who was against the proposed development.

Cannon requested a traffic study be done before the Commission made a decision.
“Has there been any feasibility study done to determine what the problems might be in regard to traffic? There’re reasons we might want to leave our block, but we can’t because of traffic. It’s difficult to pull out there and you’re planning on adding all of this traffic to that road,” he said.

Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Paysen spoke in favor of the development, saying if the citizens of Toccoa want to attract more restaurants or businesses, then Toccoa has to have the population to support those businesses.

“We don’t have people knocking down our doors to build subdivisions in this community, so it’s a great sign that developers see that it’s time to do that. As the President of the Chamber of Commerce, I’m in meetings with potential new industries coming into town and existing industries and what they are most faced with is housing for potential employees. Housing, Healthcare, Education, and Quality of Life are the four things that new industries look for when they want to come to a new city. We want development, we want a Chick-Fil-A, we want a Starbucks, we want an outlet mall, we want these things but that is a business decision, we have to have the numbers which includes growth which is progress. I understand that this is going to be a different quality of life as we know it, I understand that, but progress is progress,” she said.

Following the public comment section of the planning meeting, the Commission unanimously approved a motion to table the discussion until a feasibility traffic and environmental study could be conducted.

Since Blackwhit Partners has decided to withdrawal its application, the future of the two parcels is unknown.

WNEG News will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they are released.