After long debate and several proposals, the Rome City Commission approved a 325-unit apartment complex near the North Pointe subdivision.
Commissioners voted to approve Multi-Family Residential rezoning of the 32-acre parcel off the North Broad Extension, with Commissioner Jamie Doss casting the lone no vote.
North Pointe residents had pushed back against the proposal, citing safety issues with large construction equipment along the small two-lane North Broad Extension, among other things.
The developer, Walt Busby with KC Homes, spoke to commissioners about communicating with residents to come up with a plan that would suit them both.
“We never intended to do 455 (apartments),” Busby told commissioners. A submitted site plan placed the maximum number of units possible in the area, per instructions from the planning department, he said.
Busby said the proposal discussed with North Pointe residents caps the project at 325 units and ensures a buffer between the development and the neighborhood.
He estimated that, all in, the development is a $60 million project.
“We’re just trying to make something fit, make something work,” Busby said. “We’re trying to gain industry here... We have a dire need for workforce housing here in Rome, Georgia.”
Several people were in attendance in opposition, but they also spoke of Busby’s willingness to work with North Pointe residents.
“We feel right now... like this has been the best proposal that has come to us yet,” Sam Evans said. He, along with a dozen other North Pointe residents, also sought a firm commitment from the city on beefing up the North Broad Extension to serve the amount of traffic it will receive.
“We don’t expect them to be built next Monday, but we do hope to see something,” Evans said.
City Manager Sammy Rich said they have $750,000 in the budget for projects like North Broad Extension and they hope to get to it as soon as possible.
“It’s on the list,” Rich said.
Busby also received a go-ahead for plans to demolish the vacant North Broad Youth Center building, 1148 N. Broad St., and replace it with 24 rental townhomes with an additional 12 units to come later.
“We feel like this would be a nice extension to continue what the city has done on North Broad Street,” Busby said of the $5 million project.
The board also approved special use permits to build duplexes at 115 and 117 E. Main St. on Monday.
Commissioner Mark Cochran registered a complaint concerning the amount of time, and hurdles, the North Broad Extension project has faced. The original plan for development was a 139 house subdivision, but that stalled over one foot of road width.
“We’ve got to get this housing under control,” Cochran said. He stated the issue in this, and other projects, is the time it takes for developers to get a response from the city staff. He stated it took Busby four months to get a response from planning staff.