Residents packed Milton City Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to oppose Restoration Church's plan to build a facility of more than 100,000 square feet on agricultural land along New Providence Road.
The church purchased the roughly 30-acre property in December 2025 for $7.5 million, according to Appen Media. The site sits about 1.8 miles from the congregation's current Rucker Road campus. Resident Sarah Moen told the council the proposed building would be roughly four times the size allowed for institutional uses on parcels of four or more acres in AG-1, Milton's agricultural zoning district.
Moen, who presented a petition with about 1,000 signatures at the Aug. 17 council meeting, said church leadership "continues to bulldoze forward, asking their congregation for millions and millions of dollars to fund a project that is … [not] legally compatible with the laws protecting local property owners."
Jeff Nash, who lives about 400 feet from the site, urged the council to deny any large-scale development there, citing traffic congestion, noise and light pollution. Resident Grace Stone compared the proposal to the size of a Walmart and called it "completely inappropriate."
As of Aug. 18, Restoration Church had not filed a development application with the city, The Roundabout reported. No response from the church to resident concerns appeared in the public record.
Flock cameras divide council member, House candidate
The meeting also exposed a divide over Flock Safety license-plate-reading cameras.
Lindsay DeFranco, a Democratic candidate for the Georgia House District 47 seat, asked the council to disclose how many Flock cameras operate in Milton, where they are located and who can access the data. She referenced a September 2025 incident in which a Flock employee accessed a camera feed inside a children's gymnastics room at a private business in Dunwoody. DeFranco said the technology creates a detailed record of where people go and warned the council that future problems are unpredictable.
Council Member Carol Cookerly fired back, calling the cameras "the biggest game-changer in solving crime in metro Atlanta." She called it "absolutely irresponsible" for anyone running for office to stoke what she described as moral panic about license plate readers.
A Fulton Neighbor report published Aug. 24 found Georgia leads the nation in documented automated license plate reader abuses, with 57 of 170 incidents in a database maintained by the Institute for Justice. Flock Safety is headquartered in Atlanta.
Budget votes postponed; development authority seated
The council postponed votes on amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget and adoption of the fiscal year 2027 budget to an unspecified later date.
Council members did approve the seven-member Deerfield Development Authority, which is charged with making the area more walkable. Members include Council Member Jan Jacobus, Roswell Deputy Director for Recreation and Parks Taylor Smith, real estate attorney Steve Golden, local HOA president Todd Harkleroad, commercial real estate executive Penn Hodge, CPA Roger Lusby and corporate real estate and construction leader Brian McNeese.
No rescheduled date for the budget votes has been announced. Residents can check miltonga.gov for updates.
