Roswell Rejects 62-Townhome Plan for Old Roswell Road
Roswell rejected a proposal for 62 townhomes on Old Roswell Road, preserving commercial zoning and upholding environmental protections. The council’s narrow vote reflects the city’s ongoing challenge of balancing growth and employment land preservation.
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Roswell has rejected a proposal to build 62 townhomes at 0 Old Roswell Road, preserving the property’s commercial mixed-use zoning and closing the latest attempt to turn the tract into housing.
The City Council denied the rezoning request 3-2 on Monday, Aug. 10. Councilmember Jennifer Phillippi was absent, according to the city’s official meeting recap.
P&L North Village L.P. sought to rezone approximately 10 acres from Commercial Mixed Use to Office Residential. At 62 homes, the proposed community would have averaged about 6.2 units per acre.
The vote followed a July 27 council meeting in which members deferred the application, also by a 3-2 vote. That delay gave the proposal one more opportunity to advance, but the council’s return vote ended the application as presented.
A difficult site — and a larger land-use question
The dispute was about more than the number of homes.
Roswell’s planning staff recommended denial because the property falls within an Industrial/Flex character area intended to support employment and commercial activity. Converting the land to residential use would have moved the site away from that long-term purpose.
The applicant argued that the current commercial mixed-use zoning was poorly suited to the property’s physical constraints. Significant stream buffers reduce the amount of land that can readily be developed, while nearby residential communities made townhomes a compatible transition in the developer’s view.
Those competing arguments are detailed in the city’s June Planning Commission packet.
The proposal also required a stream-buffer variance. Plans called for approximately 38,850 square feet of encroachment within Roswell’s 100-foot stream buffer and 50-foot impervious setback.
That request added another layer to the decision: approving the housing plan would have required both a change in the city’s preferred land use and relief from its normal environmental-development standards.
Why the decision matters beyond this property
The rejection illustrates a recurring challenge for Roswell and other mature North Atlanta suburbs. Land designated for offices, light industry or mixed commercial development does not always attract the type of project envisioned when those plans were adopted. Housing developers then argue that residential construction is a more realistic use for difficult or underused tracts.
Cities must decide whether adding homes justifies losing potential employment land.
Roswell recently adopted its 2045 Comprehensive Growth Plan, which will guide decisions about housing, redevelopment, transportation and commercial areas. Individual rezoning cases will provide the practical test of how firmly the city follows that plan.
The Old Roswell Road decision suggests that a residential proposal may face a difficult path when it conflicts with an employment-focused character area, particularly when it also requires substantial environmental variances.
What happens next
The council’s denial means the 62-townhome development cannot proceed under the submitted plan. The property retains its existing commercial mixed-use zoning.
The owner could pursue a project permitted under that zoning or eventually return with a substantially different proposal through the city’s land-use review process. Roswell has not announced another application or a construction timetable for the site.
For nearby residents, the immediate result is straightforward: the proposed townhome community is off the table, but the future of the undeveloped property remains unsettled.
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