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Braselton Comprehensive Plans
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Let's deliver on the plans promised to Braselton residents for nearly 20 years.
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Since at least 2003, Braselton’s Town Leaders have promised to preserve greenspace and “increase recreational opportunities without the need to drive.” (2003 Comp. Plan - see also footnote 1 below)
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Since at least 2007, Braselton’s Town Leaders have been documenting: (a) the “need for increased public spaces designed for community gatherings, arts activities, and performances”; (b) that Braselton “still lacks sufficient pedestrian facilities to provide accessibility linking shopping, employment, and residential areas”; (c) a commitment to create walkable, safe, and attractive neighborhoods that encourage mixed use developments that are on a human scale and less automobile oriented. (2007 Comp. Plan - see also footnote 2 below)
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Since at least 2010, Braselton’s Town Leaders documented a plan to focus commercial development in key activity centers / nodes, to aggressively preserve open spaces and pursue creation of new parks, trails, and greenways. Braselton’s Town Leaders also planned for a compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, activity center organized around a central open space at the general geographic area spanning the southwest side of Highway 211 from Golf Club Drive in Chateau Elan to Riverview Parkway in Riverstone Park (a/k/a in 2010 as the “Chateau Elan Activity Center”). (2010 Comp. Plan - see also footnote 3 below)
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Since at least 2015, Braselton’s Town Leaders planned to require “Open Spaces” for developments on either side of Friendship Road at Highway 211 near the "Hospital Activity Center" as it became called in 2015. Braselton’s Town Leaders designated the aforementioned Chateau Elan Activity Center / now Hospital Activity Center as an appropriate place for a “mix of commercial, office and residential (‘horizontal’ or ‘vertical’ mixed use),” and Braselton’s Comprehensive Plan defines Mixed Use as a “walkable mix of ‘activity center’ uses including retail, office, restaurant, commercial and upper story residential and/or office organized around a central open space.” (2015 Comp. Plan - see also footnote 4 below)
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The intersection of Hwy 211 and Friendship was supposed to be developed and organized around a central open space, just like these communities off GA 400. Let's follow through on these plans and expand them into four destinations for your family - NOT development that will lead to neglected strip malls and blight.
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With Planned Growth, Braselton can always be an attractive destination and domicile.
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(1) 2003 Braselton Comprehensive Plan
Community Facilities and Services:
- The ability to develop in a compact fashion decreases the costs associated with providing the required infrastructure and creates population clusters that are easier to service. Compact development that preserves greenspace also increases recreational opportunities without the need to drive. It facilitates the implementation of a sidewalk or trail network minimizing unnecessary automobile trips. (pp. 7-5)
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(2) 2007 Braselton Comprehensive Plan
Land Use:
- Traditional forms of commercial development has, in many cases, left too high a proportion of land dedicated to parking and other impervious areas. The Town should explore promoting innovative development designs that achieve the same yields but lessen the environmental impact of large developments with the goal of reduced impervious area and tree protection. (p. 10)
- Plan and regulations for specific geographic areas are needed for those areas that need special attention due to expected growth pressures or that have unique issues that require particular planning and regulatory study. (p. 10)
- There is a need for increased public spaces designed for community gatherings, arts activities, and performances. (p. 10)
- The Town still lacks sufficient pedestrian facilities to provide accessibility linking shopping, employment, and residential areas. The Town can improve on this through development regulations, application for grants and transportation funds, and its own Capital Improvements Program. (p. 11)
- We are committed to creating walkable, safe, and attractive neighborhoods. (p. 20)
- We encourage mixed-use developments that are human scale and less automobile oriented. (p. 20)
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(3) 2010 Braselton Comprehensive Plan
Guiding Principles
- Focus commercial development in key activity centers / nodes to reduce sprawling development patterns (p. 3)
- Aggressively preserve open spaces and pursue creation of new parks, trails and greenways (p. 3)
- Improve the quality of key corridors linking existing and future centers
(p. 3)
1.5c: Chateau Elan Activity Center
- This area "is envisioned as a compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, activity center organized around a central open space… The addition of multifamily housing, locally-serving retail, and medical office uses would complement each other if incorporated within a concentrated, walkable area adjacent to the medical center. Open spaces should be identified and promoted as a development focal point, potentially spanning either side of the soon-to-be realigned Thompson Mill Road. Lower-density residential uses along the southern side of the district should buffer higher-density uses near the hospital from lower-density residential areas within Chateau Elan. The district would ideally incorporate a variety of housing types, focused on older populations and empty-nesters looking for a more walkable environment and the workforce affiliated with adjacent hospital/medical uses. Co-locating job opportunities, goods, services and amenities within a compact district can significantly reduce future traffic congestion and help preserve key natural features (woodlands, Mulberry River, etc.) by concentrating growth in activity “nodes.” As a future mixed-use, multimodal-oriented center, there are also many options for increased physical activity.
(p. 11)
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(4) 2015 Braselton Comprehensive Plan
Hospital Activity Center
- This area is envisioned as a compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, activity center organized around a central open space and a series of new local streets (dashed black lines). The addition of multifamily housing, locally-serving retail, and medical office uses would complement each other if incorporated within a concentrated, walkable area adjacent to the medical center. Open spaces should be identified and promoted as a development focal point, potentially spanning either side of the soon-to-be realigned Thompson Mill Road. Lower-density residential uses along the southern side of the district should buffer higher- density uses near the hospital from lower-density residential areas within Chateau Elan. The district would ideally incorporate a variety of housing types, focused on older populations and empty-nesters looking for a more walkable environment and the workforce affiliated with adjacent hospital/medical uses. Co-locating job opportunities, goods, services and amenities within a compact district can significantly reduce future traffic congestion and help preserve key natural features (woodlands, Mulberry River, etc.) by concentrating growth in activity “nodes.” As a future mixed-use, multimodal-oriented center, there are also many options for increased physical activity. (p. 21)
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