Commission denies apartment construction, protects neighborhood's privacy

News 12 at 11 O'Clock / Tuesday, June 19, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga -- Neighbors from West Augusta packed the commission chambers Tuesday to fight against a proposed apartment complex.

"We'd rather see some houses go back there instead of apartments," Kevin Wilson said. He lives in the Hillcreek neighborhood.

People in the quiet neighborhood off Augusta West Parkway say they want their neighborhood to stay quiet, and building an apartment complex would bring concerns.

"The crime element, the noise level, the traffic," Jeanne Corley said. She also lives nearby.

Right now, the land near the neighborhood is zoned for commercial offices, but developers want to put more than 200 apartments there instead. They say the apartments would actually cause less traffic than offices would.

"[Here is a] full traffic study showing that current zoning will generate between 2,100 and 7,000 daily trips," Jim Trotter said on behalf of potential developers.

"That traffic leaves in the afternoon and night time and weekends." Jeanne rebutted. "We're not constantly bombarded with constant flow of traffic."

Commissioners sided with neighbors as they voted unanimously to deny rezoning the land that would allow apartment construction.

"It's nice to have the consensus there," Commissioner Joe Bowles said.

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Commission denies apartment construction, protects neighborhood's privacy