Developer Scales Back Keith Bridge Road Event Venue After Neighbor Opposition

Narasimha Rao Tambareni revised his proposal for a special-events venue on Keith Bridge Road (Ga. Highway 306) in the Chestatee area of north Forsyth County, scrapping a planned helipad and outdoor amphitheater and reducing the main building to 6,000 square feet with 62 parking spaces after weeks of vocal neighbor opposition and a crowded county meeting on Feb. 17. Tambareni is seeking a conditional use permit for the property.

The original plan described in public reports called for a roughly 9,000-square-foot indoor event building, an amphitheater at the rear of the property and a helipad adjacent to that amphitheater. Parking was initially described as 155 spaces in one version of the reporting and as “more than 100 designated parking spaces” by a local real-estate site; that site also said the amphitheater would be nearly 10,000 square feet and that a 2,500-square-foot residence was part of the packet. Sources differ on parcel size: one report described the site as 15 acres while the local real-estate site called it “a little over 11 acres.”

Tambareni told county meeting attendees he had scaled the project back and described how the finished venue would look. “We’re making like a rural, rustic barn style, like farm-looking. So, it won’t feel like commercial. It will feel like a rustic barn,” he said while outlining the removal of the helipad and amphitheater and the reductions in building footprint and parking.

Neighbors along Keith Bridge Road mounted visible opposition, posting signs along the highway and turning out in force at the county meeting. Residents cited traffic, safety and quality-of-life concerns, blind spots and congestion on Highway 306, amplified noise from outdoor events, nighttime lighting and safety issues tied to helicopter activity were specifically raised. A neighbor identified only as Strauss said, “We are just saying no to any commercial because that is not a spot for any commercial, regardless of size.” Strauss added, “That spot does not have the infrastructure to support any kind of venue.”

Lynne Castleberry, whose in-laws once owned the land under discussion, said the project would alter daily views for nearby homeowners. “So, we’ll look out and see a big parking lot out there every day,” Castleberry said, adding, “This is not a good fit for the community. It’s not that we don’t want growth. We want growth. But we want it done in the right way, not haphazardly, like let’s put this here, let’s add this here.”

Forsyth County Commissioner Mendy Moore noted the site sits along a state highway with a commercial designation but emphasized limits. “Highway 306 is a state highway and is designated a commercial corridor. So, it is possible to have this type of thing here, but it would need to be under the right circumstances,” Moore said, and he said the county board vote on the conditional use permit will likely be a few months away.

The project remains at the conditional use-permit stage. County planning files, the submitted site plans and the formal hearing schedule will determine final acreage, the exact original and revised footprints, and the official parking counts before the board takes up the matter.