One of the nation's largest residential community developers wants to build nearly 500 new homes in Augusta just south of Bobby Jones Expressway.
The Atlanta office of Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of high-volume homebuilder D.R. Horton, is proposing a project currently titled "Benson Road" at 3350 Benson Road, off Exit 7 of Interstate 520, according to an application filed July 23 with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
The dead-end road, almost a mile long, is accessible only from Richmond Hill Road. The land totaling almost 142 acres is owned by Maxwell Richmond Hill Road Properties, a limited-liability company
represented by Macon furniture store owner Bert Maxwell.
Forestar's website claims the company develops one in every 50 single-family homesites in the United States.
The development proposal calls for "a residential community of approximately 469 residential single-family detached houses with amenities and open space," according to the DCA.
The development's estimated value at buildout would be about $141 million and would generate an estimated $1.5 million annually in property taxes, the application said.
The development is expected to generate 4,099 vehicles a day and would require road improvements, described in the application as "right-turn deceleration lanes on Benson Road on four of the proposed development's driveways, and three left-turn lanes along Benson Road on three of the proposed development's driveways."
The completed homes would be zoned for Richmond Hill Elementary School, Richmond Hill Middle School and Butler High School.
Richmond County recently submitted a "Development of Regional Impact," or DRI, statement for Benson Road to the Georgia DCA. Georgia classifies DRIs as "large-scale developments that are likely to have regional effects beyond the local government jurisdiction in which they are located," according to the DCA.
Local governments eyeing large development opportunities are obligated to submit DRI information for state review under the Georgia Planning Act of 1989.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Nearly 500 homes planned off I-520 could reshape Augusta | Exclusive
