COVINGTON, Ga. — Undeveloped land near I-20’s exit to U.S. Hwy. 278 has been approved for a future apartment complex but Covington City Council included conditions designed to minimize the impact on Turner Lake Road traffic.
Atlanta-based developer Crescent Communities was seeking a rezoning and special use permit to allow for the construction of an apartment complex containing 300 units in five buildings on a vacant site about one-eighth of a mile west of Turner Lake Road near U.S. Hwy. 278.
The council voted 5-1 Monday, Feb. 6, to approve the developer’s request on the condition the apartment complex’s construction be coordinated with a reconstruction plan for Turner Lake Road.
It added a requirement that Crescent’s plan include a paved access road to Turner Lake Road with a gate to allow use only by emergency vehicles.
The 35-acre tract is adjacent to the north side of Turner Lake Park and the west side of Covington Gallery shopping center, which includes Ingles supermarket as one of its anchors.
The development would be concentrated in the southeast corner of the L-shaped site. A clubhouse, “dog area” and footpath connecting to Turner Lake Park would be included.
Crescent Communities’ request was for a rezoning from a mix of Neighborhood Residential (NR-1) and Mixed-Use (CM) to Town Center Residential (TCR), and for a Special Use Permit the city requires for multi-family residential projects over five acres.
Planning staff members had recommended the council deny the request because of its expected effect on traffic on heavily-used Turner Lake Road.
Planning director Marc Beechuk also said the staff was concerned about the effect of recent residential construction on city and county services in recent years.
He said 905 single-family units and 1,474 multi-family units had been either built or were under construction or in review in Covington since November 2020.
Residents opposing the rezoning echoed the planning staff’s concerns about the number of apartments already existing or planned in the area, as well as the impact a 300-unit complex would have on existing traffic congestion on Turner Lake Road.
“We can’t take any more apartments,” said Clark’s Grove resident Jim Bryant.
City Manager Tres Thomas noted plans for 691 residential units recently had been approved about a half-mile south on Turner Lake Road.
He said the city was developing plans for widening Turner Lake Road but construction will not be completed until about 2027.
Kyle Brock, managing director of Crescent Communities, said during a public hearing the complex will have an entrance to Access Road through Covington Gallery that will remove the need for residents to use an access road to Turner Lake Road to get on nearby I-20.
He said demand for residential units in Covington is outpacing supply which shows the need for new multi-family housing apartment. Not meeting the demand could potentially drive rents even higher in the area, Brock said.
He added there was “no other good use for the site” because it has no direct frontage on Turner Lake Road or Hwy. 278. Only half of the site was usable because of a stream that runs through its center. Four-story apartment buildings would be needed to create the amount of residential density the developer needed to justify the investment, Brock said.
He also said a residential development of the size planned for the Turner Lake Road site was what retailers along the U.S. Hwy. 278 corridor in west Covington needed to spur redevelopment of retail in the area.
“This is the missing, dense residential (development) for the corridor that it really needs,” he said.
He noted Crescent Communities is working to develop with apartments the area behind Martin’s Crossing shopping center at Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue and U.S. Hwy. 278 in east Covington.
The new development likely convinced Piedmont Healthcare and others to invest in renovation of the long-vacant, former Walmart space in Martin’s Crossing, he said.
“We believe investment begets investment,” Brock said.
