MILTON, Ga. — Plans for a restaurant and event facility drew resident concerns about density and preservation of the Birmingham Crossroads character area at the June 19 Milton City Council meeting.
Curtis Mills, owner of Matilda’s Under the Pine and 7 Acre Bar N Grill, has applied to repurpose a 2,640-square-foot, 1890s-era farmhouse along Hickory Flat Road into a new breakfast restaurant. Plans also include adding a 2,000-square-foot indoor event pavilion alongside a 1,550-square-foot patio.
The development, which covers 6.5 acres, would bisect two zoning districts, AG-1 – or agriculture – and C-1, which is generally reserved for transition areas that allow neighborhood and community-oriented retail and service activities.
Among the zoning variances requested, new village center buildings would be set back more than 10 feet to allow for parking as well as some parking lot requirements eliminated.
City staff recommended approval of all the requested zoning variances, but with conditions.
Vouching for his two-year-long project, Mills said some of city staff’s conditions were last minute and “unworkable,” such as the times of operation on the event facility, a wedding venue.
The proposal drew some public support at the meeting. Hazel Gerber said she wished to see the church’s historic building re-used rather than destroyed.
Citing the Birmingham Crossroads Plan, others argued the new development would be too intense.
“The Birmingham Crossroads area was not designed for dense or intense commercial use,” resident Mary Cronk said. “Because of the intensity of use, the current plan we’ve been presented with does not fit into this purposefully planned community.”
The council voted to defer project plans to the July 24 City Council meeting.
In other matters before the council, residents shared concerns about the design of five…
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