Company Wants to Build Kia Dealership Near Woodstock Outlet Mall

A company facing thousands of dollars in fines for removing 37 trees without a permit wants to construct Kia dealership just west of the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta in Woodstock.

Settendown Partnerships, LLC has petitioned the city to rezone 5.95 acres on the northside of Ridgewalk Parkway west of Interstate 575 to accommodate its project.

The Woodstock Planning Commission will consider the case during its Thursday, Oct. 2 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. The Woodstock City Council will consider approving the application during its meeting on Monday, Oct. 27.

Both meetings will be held at the Chambers at City Center in downtown Woodstock.

A proposed site plan shows the entire development would be 41,000 square feet, which would include a 39,000 square feet building and a 2,500-square-foot car wash. It also shows a total of 490 spaces for vehicles. Broken down, that would include 18 vehicles that could be stored in an 18,000-square-foot sales area, 21 bays to service the same amount of vehicles, a car plaza reserved for 15 vehicles and storage for 436 vehicles.

Settendown Partnerships late last month held a public input meeting in which about 50 people showed up, mostly from the Brookshire subdivision, which sits further west of the property. According to documentation provided to the city, those in attendance voiced concerns about traffic, lighting and noise and environmental impact of operating a car dealership and service area.

Settendown Partnership earlier this year was hit with a $52,500 fine by the city of Woodstock for removing 37 trees from property.

Thirty-seven protected trees were cut down in December on property owned by the company. Twenty-eight trees ranging in 10 inches to 12 inches in diameter and 9 trees between 13 and 16 inches in diameter were removed.

The fine for removing any tree ranging in 10 to 12 inches is $1,200 and is $2,100 for the removal of trees ranging from 13 to 16 inches in diameter, garnering the company a $52,500 fine. Woodstock’s Tree Preservation Ordinance outlines the payment of fines for the removal of ”protected or specimen” trees without a city-issued permit.

The trees were removed without the submission of any plans or permits to the the city, Woodstock Community Development Director Jessica Guinn told the City Council in July. A certified arborist under contract with the city made a site inspection in December and concluded that 37 trees were removed from the property.

The company appealed the ruling during the City Council’s July 28 meeting, but the appeal was tabled at that time and again during the Aug. 25 meeting to give City Attorney Eldon Basham more time to review the appeal.

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