Rosselle St. PUD
Rosselle St. PUD
History
The properties at 2251, 2256, 2310 and 2342 Rosselle Street, behind Gilmore Street and near the cross streets of Copeland and Osceola Street, is 4.3 acres of land in the Riverside Avondale Historic District and Zoning Overlay. It is in a “Residential Character Area” but has been operating commercially for years. Prior to the commercial activity, several homes along Rosselle Street were demolished or relocated to accommodate the Miller Electric company and the I-10 onramps at Stockton Street. A part of Rosselle Street was made one-way to accommodate the I-10 entrance, forcing all truck traffic onto the adjacent residential streets.
In May 2022, The Miller Electric Company sold the property to Rosselle Properties LLC, an Atlanta-based company led by Paul E. Mayberry, founder and chairman of Mayberry Electric Inc., for $5.85 million. Read more about the sale and Mr. Mayberry here.
The Rosselle Street PUD is a rezoning application filed by The Southern Group with the goal of consolidating each property into one zoning district and to support the existing tenants by adding some industrial uses to the PUD. The application has been modified several times this year based on guidance from the COJ Planning Department, the new owner, Councilwoman DeFoor, nearby residents, and RAP.
While the entire application is an intensification of land use, we have worked with the applicant to address specific changes based on feedback from the residents and our support for the Zoning Overlay. We have requested that industrial activities and any use that could bring noise, odor, or increased large truck traffic to the area be eliminated from the application, successfully. We also made sure that residential uses would be allowed on this site If – in the future – the new owner decides to build a mixed use or multi-family project. We have asked for compliance with the Riverside Avondale Zoning Overlay as it relates to landscape, design, parking, and height since Day One.
In order to support the current tenants, this PUD would allow outdoor storage of materials up to 10 feet tall which is a current and ongoing activity. The Planning Department has required (as a condition of approval) that the outdoor storage be screened, up to 8 ft. and hidden by a 95% opaque fence from the public. This is a condition we support.
While many of our requested changes have been made, we also asked the applicant to remove Personal Self Storage from this list of allowable uses because we want this area to remain a place for jobs or housing – not storage. Current tenants on the site have been good neighbors to those living nearby. At the Town Hall hosted by Councilwoman DeFoor in April for the nearby neighbors, most agreed that the current tenants are not loud, do not have excessive traffic, and have generated no complaints to RAP in the last year.
This rezoning is about more than the current tenants. It is changing the zoning for tenants in the future as well. The application has already been heard at the Planning Commission meeting. Next, it will move to the COJ Land Use and Zoning Committee who will review the application before voting to Approve or Deny Ordinance 2022-0075 and 2022-0237. City Council will hear the application next and is the last stop for public participation in the legislative process.
This rezoning is important to the neighborhood because:
- It is 4.3 acres in the Riverside Avondale Historic District and Zoning Overlay.
- This property abuts a residential road, Gilmore Street, is near Central Riverside Elementary and the proposed Emerald Trail route;
- The intensification of land is the opposite direction of the Overlay RAP fought to enact years ago and could be a precedent for future land use and zoning changes. Residential is the ideal.
Riverside Avondale Preservation is requesting members of the neighborhood to join us at the upcoming COJ LUZ hearing and asking that they add conditions to the rezoning ordinance that would eliminate Personal Storage Units from a future use at this site and also comply with the R/A Zoning design standards which covers landscaping, signage, parking, and height of any new buildings.
Add this hearing to your calendar and plan to join us.