Dollar General proposed for Northside Drive in Macon

Planning staff recommend rezoning the seven-acre property, but the developer would need additional approval before building the proposed 9,100-square-foot store.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission will consider Monday whether to rezone seven acres along Northside Drive for a proposed Dollar General.

Teramore Development LLC wants to rezone the vacant property at 4111 Northside Drive from a multi-family residential district to a neighborhood commercial district.

The property is located northeast of the intersection of Northside and Marlowe drives, next to the shopping center that includes Food Depot and Family Dollar.

Teramore has the property under contract and plans to purchase it if the rezoning is approved, according to the application. The company proposes building a 9,100-square-foot Dollar General on approximately 2.5 acres of the property.

The proposed site plan includes a full-access driveway from Northside Drive, a drainage retention area, landscaping and a screened dumpster enclosure.

Planning and Zoning staff recommend approving the rezoning. Staff said commercial zoning is consistent with Macon-Bibb County’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan and with commercial development east and southeast of the property.

The property was zoned for neighborhood commercial use before the commission rezoned it in March 2019 for a proposed four-building, 80-unit apartment complex. The apartment development was never built, and the property remains vacant.

The current application would return the property to its previous commercial zoning.

The applicant said the commission suggested the 4111 Northside Drive property after denying a separate rezoning request for a proposed development at 4125 Northside Drive in 2024.

Planning staff estimate the Dollar General would generate an average of 579 additional vehicle trips each weekday, including 41 during the morning peak hour and 68 during the evening peak hour.

Traffic counters recorded an average of 11,142 vehicles traveling along that portion of Northside Drive during a two-day study August 4 and 5. Macon-Bibb County Engineering staff said they did not foresee problems with the proposed site plan.

Rezoning approval would not give the developer final permission to begin construction. Planning staff said a retail store larger than 5,000 square feet at the site would also require conditional-use approval.

The staff report also says public sewer service is not currently available. The developer could pursue a commercial septic system if soil testing shows the property has enough usable land for both a primary and replacement system.

Because the development would exceed 5,000 square feet, it would also require erosion-control, utility and hydraulic plans along with a land-disturbance permit. Water is available along Northside Drive, but modifications would be needed to serve the property.

The commission’s hearing begins at 1:30 p.m. Monday, August 10, in the Planning and Zoning conference room on the lower level of the Macon Mall, located at 3661 Eisenhower Parkway.

If you’d like to speak, you may register at the kiosk outside the conference room until the hearing begins.