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By D.L. BENNETT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/02/07

Fulton County commissioners stand poised today to approve a massive development that would transform a rural corner of deep south Fulton into its own mini-city, to be called Friendship Village.

The scope of the project — at 2,000 acres, 6,000 homes, 1 million square feet of commercial development and 12,000-plus residents — is staggering for an area that now has about 3,000 people scattered over roughly 40,000 acres.

Possibly more amazing is the lack of major opposition to such a huge, groundbreaking project.

County leaders and residents in the rural Chattahoochee Hill Country community have largely embraced the project, a rarity in metro Atlanta, where neighbors have been known to fight just about any rezoning.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t approve it,” said Commissioner Bill Edwards, who represents south Fulton on the County Commission. “It’s kinda hard to say no to it. They’ve done their homework. They’ve done an absolutely wonderful job. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.”

The project has already been signed off on by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Brian Davison, managing partner with Minerva Properties, said his company has put years into helping Hill Country shape its vision and building support for this project. “The community started out by saying what they want, and now we are delivering it,” Davison said.

The property is now part of unincorporated south Fulton, but sits on the border between two proposed cities, Chattahoochee Hill Country and South Fulton. If approved today, the development could fall mostly in the city of South Fulton. The referendum on whether to create the two cities is June 18.

Friendship Village begins where South Fulton Parkway intersects Rivertown Road, then sprawls north and west. The intersection calls for a large-scale shopping center with two big-box retail anchors, townhouses, apartments, offices and smaller retailers. The plan includes a school, a YMCA and a performing arts center.

Beyond that, it basically becomes a huge conservation subdivision with small lots winding through vast amounts of preserved green space.

Of the 2,000 acres involved, Minerva is promising to leave about 1,275 acres undeveloped.

Chuck Miller, who lives nearby, said he’s impressed by land being saved. Still, he’s concerned about how Minerva will turn its collections of maps and charts and promises into buildings.

“This is a long-term project,” Miller said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. You are talking about three to five years before they even get started.”

Gene Griffith, who owns a nursery in Hill Country, also said he’s cautiously optimistic.

“The overall concept strikes me as good, but there are some things I’m concerned about,” Griffith said. He’s mostly worried about how the huge project will fit in with the overall development plan for Hill Country.

Minerva’s proposal is the latest for an Atlanta area where huge projects that transform entire communities have become routine.

The proposed Wolf Creek project in nearby Carroll County covers nearly 12,000 acres.

Cherokee has the 4,000-acre Towne Lake community and the nearby 2,000 acre BridgeMill development. There’s Tributary in Douglas and Seven Hills in Paulding. Atlanta has Atlantic Station.

Minerva has two of its own: Heron Bay in Henry County and Sun City Peachtree in Spalding County, each more than 1,500 acres.

In south Fulton, Hill Country residents and the County Commission adopted a master plan, after months of work, calling for three major development nodes of about 600 acres surrounded by vast amounts of green space. Developers would be required to buy development rights from other landowners to get density for the villages and to block other properties from ever being built on.

As proposed, Minerva’s property covers more than three times the land mass of those villages and would allow for big-box retailers when the original rule set the largest building at about 30,000 square feet. The company has also asked for nearly two dozen breaks from Hill Country rules. County planning officials are recommending that commissioners grant most of the exceptions.

Also, Davison says his company will need to buy the rights for 3,700 housing units to get his project developed, even with all of the land he’s preserved. He hopes the first house will go up sometime in 2009.

Eventually, if it all works, the project will offer homes in a variety of price ranges, apartments and condos, and places to work, shop and play, all surrounded by trees and rolling hills.

“The growth is going to come,” said Sandra Hardy, who represents south Fulton on the county zoning board. “We might as well encourage good development. This is so environmentally conducive for this area. They are offering all the amenities we need.”