The Petitioner requests a Zoning Map Amendment from Traditional Neighborhood-1 (TN-1) to Traditional Commercial-2 (TC-2) for a proposed office building and retail use with an accessory underground parking facility.   The request is contingent upon approval of a concurrent request to amend the Future Land Use Map (FLUM) to Traditional Commercial (File No. 24-005816-ZA).  Only the rezoning of the subject parcels is under consideration.  Variances to development standards of the requested zoning district cannot be considered until a decision is made for the rezoning by City Council. 

The amendment is requested to enable utilization of four existing parcels to construct three office buildings with an underground parking facility that is intended to serve both the proposed structures and the general public for off-street parking needs in the vicinity of Historic Forsyth Park.

On March 28, 2024, City Council endorsed a development agreement with Forsyth Park Commons, LLC for an underground public parking garage. Per the agreement, the partnership would result in the construction of a two-story underground parking garage with 450 spaces to support the estimated 115,000 square foot office use. One hundred of the spaces are to be made available to the public during business hours and all spaces made available to the public after business hours and on the weekend.

In the absence of a zoning district that adequately captures the characteristics and nuance of the increasingly commercial-dominant mixed-use nature of development along higher volume corridors in the Victorian District, the Planning Commission recommends approval of the request to rezone to TC-2 with the following condition:

1. Permissible uses shall consist only of those permitted in the TN-1 zoning district and only in accordance with all applicable supplemental use standards.