A large new mixed-used retail and senior housing development is coming to Covington.

The Covington City Council approved rezoning part of a 14.66-acre commercial tract that touches both U.S. Highway 278 near Just Dogs and Turner Lake Road, south of the Food Depot shopping center.

The tract is owned by Loganville-based Diversified Development Company, which plans to put a mix of retail and senior housing on the property, according to representative Danny Herman.

Herman said the plan is to have retail tenants locate on the portion of the property that fronts U.S. Highway 278, and then to have four quad-plex buildings with unassisted senior housing and then an assisted senior living facility.

Herman said there is a big need in Newton County for more senior housing and said the location is a good one because it’s close to Newton County Senior Services, which is located in the Turner Lake Complex across Turner Lake Road.

In other Covington City Council business:

Covington will have a compressed natural gas fueling facility next year and will be one of the first of its size to do so.

The Covington City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve paying $1.6 million to Atlanta-based American Fueling Systems to build a compressed natural gas fueling (CNG) fueling facility.

Grant writer Randy Conner said he hoped the company would be able to break ground in the fall and have the facility completed by April 2014.

The city will receive a low-interest loan from the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia at between 1 and 1.5 percent for five years.

The facility will have four CNG pumps and will be designed to easily accommodate large vehicles like tractor trailers and school buses.

The city has been talking about a facility for years to both save money in the long run by converting its own fleet to CNG vehicles and to make money by selling CNG to the public as the CNG-vehicle market grows.