We, the residents, parents and homeowners of the Vista Ridge community (City of Woodstock, GA), are calling on the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners to DENY the high-density R-20 rezoning application for 523 Hendon Road in unincorporated Cherokee County.

While we recognize that this land will eventually be developed, Hendon Road is the central lifeblood that will feed into this new construction community. Our neighborhood is currently facing a life-threatening public safety crisis on Hendon Road caused by reckless cut-through traffic and a failing road infrastructure. Adding any further density to this system is an unacceptable liability for both the City and the County.

Why This Matters to Our Vista Ridge Community:

• The Dangerous "Brake-and-Accelerate" Pattern: Our existing traffic-calming measures are failing, causing erratic and hostile driving behavior. Neighbors living at 380 Hendon Road (the informal entrance to our Vista Ridge community) routinely witness speeding cars whip blindly around the corner at 395 Hendon Road, slam on their brakes for the first speed bump, and then aggressively punch the gas the moment they clear it.
• Flawed Traffic Data vs. Real-World Danger: Speed checks clocked vehicles at 34 mph, but this data is highly deceptive. The monitoring equipment was placed directly between two speed bumps where cars briefly slow down. It completely misses the massive acceleration spikes where drivers aggressively speed up right past our driveways on the sections of our four streets without speed bumps.
• Recent Loss-of-Control Accidents: The danger is real. Just a few nights ago, a speeding vehicle hit a speed bump, completely lost control on a sharp curve, and blew out its front right tire.. We are one blind spot away from a vehicle crashing into a yard or striking a child waiting at a school bus stop.
  Increased Risk of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions: Hendon Road is an active, established wildlife corridor used daily by deer and fox families. Forcing hundreds of more high-speed vehicles into an area with a documented speeding problem and heavy wildlife crossing exponentially increases the risk of severe vehicle-animal collisions, endangering drivers and pedestrians alike.
• Illegal Buffers on the City/County Line: Because our Woodstock homes are zoned R-40, Cherokee County Ordinance (Article 23, Table 23-3) mandates a 65-foot undisturbed natural buffer between this new high-density project and our property lines. Instead, the developer is proposing a tiny, illegal 25-foot buffer—violating the law and destroying our privacy and property values.
  Statutory Non-Compliance (The 30-Acre Rule): Squeezing nearly 50 high-density homes onto a 28.25-acre tract directly violates Cherokee County’s own zoning laws, which mandate a minimum of 30 acres for a Conservation Design Community.
• Environmental Destruction: The property is bisected by a State Waters creek. Squeezing 60-foot wide lots next to this waterway threatens our local ecosystem and risks severe downstream flooding for existing homeowners in our Vista Ridge community.

We bought our homes in Vista Ridge because we value safety, nature, and community character. We refuse to let an unincorporated county development bypass safety codes and dump its traffic liabilities directly onto our city-border neighborhood.

Sign this petition to tell Cherokee County Commissioner Richard Weatherby and the Planning Commission to protect our Vista Ridge community and vote NO on May 27th!