Rockmart City Council members on Tuesday night witnessed a walkout of residents who were upset at the decision they made approving a new planned development for Rockmart – the second in just over a year that’ll bring new homes and new neighbors to the area around a busy intersection in the city limits.
It was at last year’s March meeting that the Carlton Drive/Cartersville Hwy. development proposed was turned down by the council, and came back up with changes for approval. Developers compromised a bit with the city and worked on plans in other areas over the past year, and with the Rockmart Planning Commission’s thumbs up, the city council found no reasons to not allow it to move forward as a PD-1 zoned development.
Plans were scaled down by developer Wayne Bearden from 161 units down to 109 units, increasing lot space and areas for recreation – including trails, a pond and other amenities – around the new housing development. He also was required to get Georgia Department of Transportation approval for his plans for having two entrances and exits out of the neighborhood.
Residents around Carlton Drive brought the same concerns about housing density and price, increases in traffic, strain on utilities and first responders and even claims of the development becoming a build-to-rent neighborhood.
Among those who spoke out on Tuesday night was Kelly Scott, who was among the group of residents who brought their concerns to the City Council in 2024 over the planned development. She raised new issues over costs of housing and demographics in the neighborhood requiring many of the residents to commute outside of Polk County for work.
“Where will that tax money be going? Not to us,” she said.
Scott also raised concerns also shared by neighbors over flooding.
Bearden, representing Smith Douglas Homes who brought the project last year to the Council for approval, noted that the changes to the plans and the upgrades required to utilities will cost more due to the decrease in density required by the city.
He also noted that with utility work, he believes water flow will improve out of the current residential area and go where it is supposed to, eventually draining out as clean water after it has a chance to settle in the pond that’ll be installed.
Plans previously included a pool, but those were scrapped due to the need to increase lot sizes to accommodate the city’s request for a smaller development.
When council members voted to approve the project during the meeting, they were met immediately after by a walkout of a majority of the crowd from the council meeting, with some individuals shouting in anger over the approval of the neighborhood.
The PD-1 development will require the city to sign off on a final plan, and locks Smith Douglas Homes into building only what they have sent over to the city in their development documents.
New housing has been on the rise all across Polk County, with new construction underway on more than 200 homes behind Walmart in Rockmart with clearing and grading of land now underway, plus additional new neighborhoods on a smaller scale in Cedartown. The City of Cedartown recently approved more than 100 townhomes to be built on Davis Road as well.
The trend of new housing coming to Polk follows along the expansion of suburbia out from Paulding County further west as Metro Atlanta continues to attract new residents from outside the area along with natural population increases, making the competition for homes greater than ever before.
Pricing on these new homes will start around $275,000 to $300,000, based on layout and lot size.
Check back for more coverage and subscriber-only meeting video from the Rockmart City Council’s Tuesday night session as soon as possible.
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