Riverview Landing Annexation Before Council, Jonquil Village Tabled

The City of Smyrna will decide whether or not to annex and re-zone 82 acres of land along the Chattahoochee River into the city for the Riverview Landing mixed use facility, but will not get the chance to discuss an amended zoning plan for the Jonquil Village development.

The two projects trended in two different directions last week, with Councilman Ron Fennel hosting a town hall meeting discussing the Riverview Landing proposal with Jamestown Properties' Walter Brown on Thursday evening.

Telling the assembled Ward 7 residents at Whitefield Academy that Smyrna has "been discovered," Fennel announced that over the last 30 days, more than $1.2 billion had been invested into the Smyrna area.

Brown ran through the current plans for the project, and said that construction on the first housing units would begin during the summer of 2014, with an anticipated opening in the summer of 2015. 

Meanwhile, the amended zoning plan for Jonquil Village was unanimously rejected by the city's Planning and Zoning Board last Monday, with several residents attending the meeting to voice their displeasure with the new plans.

The perceived heavy emphasis on apartments instead of dining and shopping next to the heart of downtown Smyrna was a sticking point for some of the speakers.

Garvis Sams, the attorney for Jonquil Village's developer Branch Capital Partners, says the firm asked the vote on the rezoning to be tabled to allow them time to refine the plan and clear up misconceptions residents and city officials have with it.

"It has more to do with the fact that people not understanding that the property is already entitled to have more housing and retail on it than we're planning to do," Sams told Patch.

The agenda for Monday's 7:30 p.m. meeting of the Smyrna City Council may be found at the top of this article. If you are unable to attend the meeting in person or watch it on Charter channel 19, Smyrna-Vinings Patch will link to a live stream provided by the City of Smyrna once the meeting starts.