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Meeting Report

More information was revealed by City Staff on the size of the development. The presentation they gave is available on the roswellgov.com website Click Here

Also note: many people were waiting to ask questions or make comments when the meeting was ended. It was announced at the meeting that any further comments could be made at the Open Forum City Council Meeting this Monday July 30th 7:30pm at City Hall

Density

Bottom line, as questions posed by Councilman Jerry Orlans revealed, the proposal consists of essentially the same commercial elements that are in the current zoning, but then adds about six million additional square feet of residential space on top.

This addition of six million square feet over and above the current zoning is what is requiring the high rises. The high rises provide the only way to fit this kind of increase in square footage into the same piece of land originally zoned for millions less square feet.

Current Zoning
Office	957,830	sq. ft.
Office/Hotel	180,000	sq. ft.
Office/Commercial	48,000	sq. ft.
Total	1,185,830	sq. ft.*

* There are also 471 rental apartments ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms either built or approved under the current zoning that would need to be added to the above total. An average sq. ft. figure is not known at this time to use as a multiplier.

Proposed Zoning
Office	750,000	sq. ft.
Retail	200,000	sq. ft.
Hotel	400,000	sq. ft.*
Residential	5,950,000	sq. ft.**
Total	7,300,000	sq. ft.

*200 room hotel, staff indicated they allow 2000 sq. ft. per room to allow for the room, meeting space, and other elements of a hotel required to support a room

**Using staff number of average 2000 sq. ft. per housing unit.

Traffic

The traffic study was also discussed. Most numbers in the study double or more when comparing the current zoning to the proposed zoning. This checks out considering the proposal is for three or more times the square feet of the current zoning.

Traffic Generated by Development Scenarios

Development	Daily Vehicle Trips	AM Peak Hour Vehicle Trips		PM Peak Hour Vehicle Trips
		Entering	Exiting	Entering	Exiting
Roswell East Existing Zoning	12,765	1,539	190	216	1,325
Roswell East Proposed Zoning	27,769	1,164	978	1,275	1,584

Schools

Both the developers numbers and the City's numbers indicate that the 2,975 residential units being built will contribute fewer students in the school system than the current 300 or so apartments. The new housing units will have very few families with children. Essentially what this does is create more capacity at Esther Jackson Elementary School for bussing in students from the apartments at the northwest quadrant of Holcomb Bridge and 400.

CBS Channel 46 Atlanta covered the meeting:

Roswell East Work Session Recast as Town Hall Meeting

There is a meeting on the Roswell East project this Thursday July 19th at 7:30pm in Council Chambers at Roswell City Hall.

It was originally scheduled as a nondescript work session where City Staff would present their findings in a small meeting room in City Hall to an audience consisting mostly of the Mayor and City Council, though the public is generally allowed to come to these meetings too.

This work session has since been recast as a "Town Hall Meeting", presumably by the Mayor who controls this meeting, and it has been publicized to all major Roswell and Atlanta area media outlets, and will now be held in Council Chambers which is the large public meeting room normally reserved for full City Council meetings.

For anyone interested in the Roswell East development for any reason, this is probably a very important meeting to go to.

Although it is being held in Council Chambers, it is still officially a work session as far as we can tell, so the format of the meeting is not entirely clear. The City Staff will certainly still present their report, but beyond that, nothing seems to be set in stone as to format.

Initial reports described the meeting as a presentation of findings by City Staff followed by a presentation or rebuttal by The Pinnacle Companies and/or CRB Realty (the developer and his lobbying firm). Later clarifications indicated anyone who wanted to ask questions, including the developer, could do so, but would be limited to three minutes total time. Further clarifications indicated that the developer may be allowed to speak for more than the three minute limit if so prompted by the Mayor who will ultimately be in charge of the meeting and who can speak and for how long.

The meeting is this Thursday 19 July at 7:30pm in Council Chambers at Roswell City Hall.