Jonquil Village Hearing to be Tabled

Sometime on Friday, the will post the agenda for next Tuesday’s city council meeting. And when it is, expect the previously posted notice for a public hearing to discuss Branch Capital Properties’ site plan and zoning condition for the once-known Jonquil Village development project to be tabled.

“It’s kind of a big deal,’’ said Councilwoman Teri Anulewicz, who represents Ward 3 where the project will be developed. “There’s a lot at stake and with four new council members, we want to make sure everyone is comfortable with the issue.”

Tuesday’s meeting will be just the second for the four new members – Andrea Blustein, Ron Fennel, Susan Wilkinson and Corkey Welch. It’s possible more than one council meeting could pass before the public hearing comes to fruition according to Anulewicz, who added that she felt “very confident’’ that a final plan will be approved and the site developed.

The question is, just what will the final site plans include? Located at Atlanta and Spring Roads, the original plans for the roughly 14 acres was for a $181 million mixed-use project including 300 luxury condominiums, 160,000 square feet of retail space and 20,000 square feet of office space. But that was back in 2006 and with the downturn in the economy, the new plans will be of a much smaller scale.

Atlanta-based Branch Properties, LLC, which owns two other mixed use development properties in the Smyrna-Vinings area (West Village and Ashbrook Crossing), submitted a zoning application with the city in late 2011.

Those plans have kept the underground parking and detention pond near Spring Rd., but the condos have been replaced by 250 residential apartments. There is more than 77,000 square feet of total building area, with a 45,600 square-foot grocery store that is still believed to be a Publix.

The retail stores, which will be a part of 10.07 acres of shopping area, will no longer have integrated housing. There will be two dedicated entrances on both Spring and Atlanta Roads, with a proposed traffic signal for the Atlanta Road and Church Street intersection.

It is near that intersection where a pair of 5,000 square-foot outlet buildings will be located, with another 2,500 square-foot outlet building near the Atlanta/Spring Road intersection. Also at that corner of the development will be a small .2-acre city park where it is believed the city of Smyrna wants to erect a monument sign indicating an entrance into downtown Smyrna.

You can see the full-size photo of the site plan here.

Several insiders, though, have questioned whether the underground parking and apartments will remain once the final plans are approved.

“There’s density issues, urban design issues, downtown development authority issues,’’ Anulewicz said. “The plans have really changed since this first began several years ago. I might be overly cautious, but we want to get this right.”

How would you feel if residential living wasn’t included in the final Jonquil Village plans? What kind of retail businesses would you like to see move in?