For the second time in less than a year, Clarkesville City Council members listened as developer Tom Gladdis of MHL Inc., laid out plans for an “affordable housing” apartment complex called Clarkesville Station.
“What we’re proposing is a 72 unit apartment complex with 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units. It would be three buildings, each three stories,” he explained. Gladdis says the complex would also have a single story community building with computer center, fitness center, and an outdoor swimming pool.
The new plan places the complex along Highway 115 next door to Habersham Hardware and just across the road from Habersham Electric Membership Corporation. Gladdis is seeking support from City Council as part of his application to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA). They would need to sign off in order for developers to get state help in paying for the plan.
Monday’s presentation was déjà vu for many since Gladdis brought in a similar plan back in June. Back then, he was seeking council support for a 64-unit complex on E. Louise Drive near Salome Street and just up the road from Ingles. At the time, Clarkesville leaders and neighbors raised concerns about traffic in the area as well as what increasing the population by 256 people all at once would do to the neighborhood.
City Council was officially lukewarm on Gladdis’ initial plan. “The letter that we gave them (in 2014) was neutral,” Clarkesville City Manager Barbara Kesler explains. “We said we were unopposed to it but we didn’t actually do the resolution of support.”
The development was ultimately killed by the state’s refusal to help with financing. Gladdis says the DCA didn’t like his original location either and the state scored his project too low. “We missed our mark by 2 points. We can gain those 2 points by moving to a new census tract,” he says. “Because Hwy 115 is a higher income census tract than E. Louise Drive, we’ll be able to get those two points and we believe that we would have an advantage and be able to obtain financing.”
The new location works better for city leaders too, “I do very much like the location, much, much more than the previous location,” council member Leigh Johnston told Gladdis. She had voiced concerns back in June about potential traffic problems at the Louise Rd. site. While the new location is vastly better for her on that score, she still has reservations about how the whole thing will look.
Johnston wants developers to screen the complex from the road with trees or plantings of some sort. Gladdis says due to Georgia Department of Transportation right-of-way and the fact that the ground slopes down steeply from the road, a planted buffer won’t be possible.
Monday night’s meeting is a very preliminary step in the process. Clarkesville City Council members will now go over the Gladdis’ proposal and decide at a future meeting if the city government will officially support, remain neutral or oppose the plan. Gladdis must then submit application to the state and only if the DCA signs off and agrees to help with financing will anything actually be built.
