A pair of residential projects in south Forsyth County were approved by the Board of Commissioners.

Each project was approved by a 3-0 vote, with Chairman Alfred John and District 3 Commissioner Todd Levent absent, at the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 16.

The more contentious of the two projects was a request by Skyland Homes to rezone 32 acres at 1608, 1652 and 1654 Old Atlanta Road from agricultural district (A1) to single-family residential district (Res2) for 41 lots.

Though no public hearing was required at the meeting, several residents living near the proposed site brought up issues with traffic at the intersection of Old Atlanta and Daves Creek roads.

Speaker Ravi Yeluguri said he was not opposed to new developments in the area but was concerned with traffic.

“This intersection, even to turn left coming out from Daves Creek onto Old Atlanta Road, it’s a very dangerous, scary, curvy situation, and the people turning right from Daves Creek onto Old Atlanta Road, they have a blind spot because of the vehicles waiting,” Yeluguri told commissioners. “Also, when people are northbound on Old Atlanta Road, if you have to take a right, there is a yield sign, so you have to look at people coming from the back and also who have the [right-of-way] who are turning left from Old Atlanta Road.”

District 5 Commissioner Laura Semanson said the county had worked with engineers to make sure the entrance of the neighborhood did not line up with the intersection and was instead a bit south, across from Blackstone Avenue.

Semanson brought up that the county is working on a transportation plan update, which she encouraged neighbors to take part in, and said the area will be a focus in the update.

“I have specifically requested that that subarea of Brannon, Ronald Reagan and Old Atlanta be studied for possible improvements, as well as some shorter-term solutions to be looked at, but we are addressing that separately,” she said.

County Manager David McKee added that plans for that project would be impacted by already planned work on Ronald Reagan Boulevard.

“One of the challenges we have in this process and why this needs to happen sooner than later is Ronald Reagan will be under construction, which will also affect traffic patterns,” he said. “But all of our modeling will take into account all of the future zoning issues, current zoning and our future land-use plan.”

Along with the Old Atlanta Road project, commissioners approved a request by Stoney Rock, LLC to rezone 19 acres from agricultural district (A1) to single-family residential district (Res2) for 24 residential lots at 1725 Stoney Ridge Road.