LAFAYETTE, Ga. — Rock City got one of two approvals it needs from elected officials to build a gondola lift up Lookout Mountain, Georgia, when the Walker County Board of Commissioners approved a rezoning request Thursday.
The five-person board unanimously approved a rezoning from residential to commercial for a 14-acre parcel on the side of the mountain where Rock City would place one of nine poles for the system. Rock City has owned the parcel since 1985, according to county records.
The board followed the lead of the county’s Planning Commission, which voted unanimously in January to recommend approval of the request with an added condition. Rock City cannot commercially develop part of the parcel that borders two private properties on the brow of the mountain, according to the condition.
(READ MORE: Rock City gondola lift could complement Incline Railway, CARTA says)
The 93-year-old tourist attraction wants to build the gondola as the first phase of a master expansion plan, said Rock City Enterprises CEO Doug Chapin.