MACON, Ga. — People who live on and around north Macon's Lamar Road hope the Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission listens to their worries on Monday.
At least two dozen wrote letters to the board opposing a 120-home housing development proposed for the area. Traffic and speeding are two top concerns.
"The speed limit is 35 and they come through here going 60 or 70," Cora Childs said.
Childs worries all the cars on Lamar Road will turn into even more if the development is built across the street from her family's home.
"The road will not be able to take all that traffic," she said.
For years, her whole family lived across the street from 855 Lamar Road.
"It's like five generations of us," she said.
For a long time, it was only them. She and her cousins enjoyed playing baseball in the long driveway as children. As Childs grew up, so did nearby Zebulon Road.
"They brought Walmart and Kroger. But we didn't think the change was going to be this big," Childs said.
Now, she's one of the two dozen people who wrote to the zoning board protesting the 35-acre development, all trying to preserve the neighborhood's rural charm.
"The wildlife. Where are they going to go? You're taking all the trees, the greenery, from the wildlife," she said.
Many wrote about overcrowding in the area. Included in the project's application packet is a memo from the Bibb County School District. It projects the added housing would bring 42 additional students across Carter Elementary School, Howard Middle School and Howard High School. Including other new housing, the district predicts all three schools would be well over capacity.
We reached out to the property owner, but he did not respond.
The zoning board will meet Monday at 1:30 p.m. at Terminal Station downtown.