Earlier this fall, Henry County commissioners adopted a moratorium in the vicinity of Atlanta Motor Speedway and Atlanta Speedway Airport. They have now hired the consultant to create the airport area master plan. The plan should be complete in fall 2025. It comes at a cost of $320 thousand.
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Airport Area Plan Consultant
Cooper Carry, Inc. of Atlanta, GA will complete the airport area plan. The county received proposals from four companies for the project. Cooper Carry was the best-scoring following staff evaluation. The plan will cost $320,000. County staff said ARPA funds would pay for it.
Cooper Carry has a variety of urban planning experience. Some past clients include downtown Atlanta, Augusta, and George Mason University in Virginia. The company founded in 1960.
According to the company’s proposal, they proposed the following plan schedule:
- Discovery – 2 months
- Due Diligence Report
- Market Report
- Analysis of Future Airport Expansion and Entertainment
- Development – 3 months
- Draft Conceptual Plan Options (Including Pods of Various Densities)
- Alignment – 3 months
- Conceptual Plan
- Draft Plan Book
- Implement – 2 months
- Final Illustrative Master Plan
- Final Plan Book
The company estimates a September 2025 completion date.
Board Vote
Before voting whether to approve the consultant, Commissioner Wilson asked if the county had spoke with Atlanta Motor Speedway. Their property lies within the plan area. According to County Manager Matthews, she had communicated via text with the speedway’s general manager. The board approved the plan consultant by a 5-1 vote (Wilson opposed). The board approved the contract on November 19.
What is an area plan?
Some may be wondering “what is an area plan?” According to the county, the consultant is charged with the following:
Henry County Government is seeking proposals from qualified firms to create a Development Master Plan for land surrounding the Atlanta Speedway Airport and the Atlanta Motor Speedway. This area consists of approximately 3,550 acres. The selected firm will need to have proven experience and knowledge in land planning, project management, effective public involvement, and work closely with the Planning and Zoning staff.
We are requesting this area be an overlay district to guide future development. The documents would
need to be easily assimilated by the general public. Our scope of work should include, but not be limited
to, the following items for the area:Henry County Purchasing Department, RFP 25-18
- Conceptual Plan (Residential and Commercial)
- Analysis for future airport expansion and entertainment
- Pods of various densities
- Plan Book that includes the following:
a. Architectural Guidelines
b. Landscaping Guidelines
c. Signage Guidelines
d. Streetscape Guidelines
The Area
The Atlanta Speedway and Airport Plan covers an area measuring about 3,350 acres. It extends from the Henry County line to US Highway 19 / 41. Its northern boundary is Shoal Creek Reservoir (also known as Lake Talmadge). Finally, the southern boundary is the Hampton city limits. The area includes both Atlanta Motor Speedway and Atlanta Speedway Airport. It is located entirely within unincorporated Henry County.
The plan area aligns with the moratorium presently in effect. The moratorium is for one year, or until September 2025, from its adoption.
This section is reprinted from our September 19 article:
History & The Vicinity
“Hampton Mega Site”
The area within the moratorium is labeled as low-density mixed-use on the county’s future land use map. This supports development up to eight net units per acre. The county added the low-density mixed-use category during the 2023 comp plan update. The previous plan update in 2018 had set aside the area for the ‘Hampton Mega Site.’ In addition, the 2018 comp plan labeled the area for mixed-use development. That designation carried a density up to 16 net units per acre.
In February 2019, Henry County hired a consultant to master plan the mega site. The consultant shared an update with the board in September 2019. Shortly thereafter, the master planning effort ended. This was because of two factors:
- A large property owner annexed about 2,000 acres of land into the city of Hampton, and
- Atlanta Motor Speedway unveiled their casino and entertainment district proposal.
Based on the uncertainties brought on at the time by these two changes, the Hampton Mega Site plan did not proceed further.
2022 to Now
Since 2022, several other property owners south of Atlanta Motor Speedway have annexed into Hampton. They include properties off Lower Woolsey Road and Minter Drive. In addition, the first construction on the aforementioned 2,000 acres saw Target open a new distribution center.
In January 2023, Henry County Land Company LLC and Geosam Capital US unveiled their proposal on the north shores of Lake Talmadge. The project is proposing over 7,000 housing units and a significant amount of retail space. At this time, the project remains pending as a rezoning request.
Finally, this year, there’s been several residential projects put forth at US Highway 19 / 41 and Franklin Rivers Road / Little Road. In the past six months, the county has considered four requests at the intersection. The projects were one on each corner. At the time of writing, the county has approved two requests. They denied one and the fourth remains pending.
The moratorium will delay any additional rezoning requests within the affected area until the county completes the master plan. It does not affect any pending requests, nor any property inside the city limits of Hampton.
Featured image shows a helicopter and plane at Atlanta Speedway Airport. Clayton Carte photo.
