MACON, Ga. — A 30-home development on Macon's Wesleyan Woods Drive is now off the table after a unanimous Macon-Bibb County Commission vote.
Last month, the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plan from Double Eagle Associates, causing traffic concerns and other worries among neighbors.
The zoning board said the nearly 10-acre lot should be enough for all the houses, but Commissioner Valerie Wynn said she heard enough worries during the board's meeting to strike up a conversation with the developers: "To discuss what else we could do, besides what he was going to do," she said.
The plan the zoning board approved didn't last much longer.
"Immediately after the rezoning hearing, Commissioner Wynn came up to us and said, 'Would you consider selling it to the city?' We said, 'Absolutely,'" Wayne Johnson, one of the developers, said.
So, after a conversation with Mayor Lester Miller, they officially inked the deal.
"One of the things we've been looking for is a passive park in the north Macon area, and this kind of suited the needs," Miller said.
County leaders say it should mean less traffic worries, and that the neighborhood's nature will stick around. Johnson says the amount of people against the project is one of the reasons they decided to sell.
Wynn says she expects the park to be a success. She hopes it will be somewhere anyone can enjoy the outdoors.
"Just for you to walk in, maybe have part of it as a dog park, because it's big enough for that. And there's a big old white house that we may want to do something with instead of tearing it down," Wynn said.
In all, the county is paying $950,000 for the property on the corner of Wesleyan Woods Drive and Rivoli Drive. The majority, $885,000 is for the land itself. The other $65,000 is for closing and maintenance costs.
In the same ordinance, commissioners approved $1.5 million for renovations at downtown Macon's Rosa Parks Square. Miller says there's now $2.5 million allocated for that project, enough to finish the renovations.
Miller says they combined the two places into one ordinance to show the county is committed to investing in the entire Macon-Bibb community.