Case study: Hickory Flat Medical Building, Hickory Flat, Georgia

Quick answer: The Hickory Flat Medical Building is a 3.95-acre medical office site on Hickory Flat Highway in the Hickory Flat community of Cherokee County, Georgia. In February 2026 the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved rezoning the property from R-80 Estate Residential to Office and Institutional for about 12,000 square feet of office, medical and clinic space. Mack Engineering is the civil engineer of record, responsible for feasibility, the concept plan at the medical parking ratio, grading and stormwater design, utility coordination with Cherokee County Water and Sewer Authority, the land disturbance permit and construction administration.

Civil engineering project overview

The Hickory Flat Medical Building is a 3.95-acre medical office development at 5263 Hickory Flat Highway, near the Idylwilde Way intersection, in the Hickory Flat community of Cherokee County. The property was zoned R-80 Estate Residential. On February 3, 2026 the Board of Commissioners unanimously approved its rezoning to Office and Institutional for a medical office building of about 12,000 square feet and no more than two stories, with 72 off-street parking spaces, on the recommendation of the Planning Commission and with ten conditions covering buffers, lighting, operating hours and permitted uses, as reported by the Cherokee Tribune and the county hearing record.

Mack Engineering is civil engineer of record. This project shows how a compact medical office site on a Cherokee County corridor is planned around the parking ratio, accessible parking and access standards that medical use demands, inside the buffers and setbacks the county enforces, and how a rezoning from a residential district is carried through to a permit-ready plan set. The rules that shape it are explained on our medical office site development page and in our medical office permit to CO timeline.

Existing conditions and due diligence

The tract fronts Hickory Flat Highway across from an established subdivision, with residential zoning on the property and around it. A medical office on a residential district parcel raises every question a rezoning hearing will ask: whether the use fits the corridor, how the building and parking sit against the neighbors, what the hours will be, and whether the site can carry the parking that medical use requires. Those questions have to be answered on the concept exhibit before the application goes in.

Mack’s feasibility work on the site evaluated:

Zoning and use: the path from R-80 to Office and Institutional, the conditions the county would attach, and the corridor standards that apply along Hickory Flat Highway.
Parking yield at the medical ratio of 3.5 to 7 spaces per 1,000 square feet and the accessible parking requirement for an outpatient facility.
Stormwater detention requirements under the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual and the footprint left after buffers and landscape strips.
Utility availability: water and fire flow from Cherokee County Water and Sewer Authority, sanitary sewer routing, power and gas.
Access: the driveway location and sight distance on Hickory Flat Highway and the turn movements a medical use generates.
Cut and fill balance and retaining wall needs on the pad.

Early evaluation of parking yield, detention and the county’s review standards is what protects feasibility and financial performance on a site this size. There is no room on 3.95 acres to fix a parking count later. See how we run commercial due diligence and feasibility.

Engineering and development scope

Mack Engineering’s civil scope on the Hickory Flat Medical Building:

Concept site plan and zoning exhibit support for the rezoning application, with the building footprint, medical parking layout, access and buffers drawn to the Office and Institutional district standards.
Site grading plan to create the building pad and drive and parking grades meeting accessibility slopes.
Stormwater management design under the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual: detention, water quality treatment and downstream analysis.
Utility design and coordination for domestic water, fire protection, sanitary sewer and storm drainage with Cherokee County Water and Sewer Authority.
Erosion and sediment control plan and NPDES Notice of Intent.
Tree preservation and replanting plan to the county’s tree density requirement.
Land disturbance permit submittal through the Cherokee County CityView portal and responses to review comments. The county’s process is covered in our Cherokee County commercial LDP guide.
Coordination with the architect, geotechnical engineer, MEP and structural teams and the fire marshal.
Construction administration, as-built coordination and stormwater facility certification through county closeout.

Medical office projects require higher parking ratios and more stringent access standards than typical commercial buildings. On this site the design balances the building footprint, the medical parking count, drive aisle geometry, emergency vehicle access and long-term drainage performance on under four acres.

Mack perspective: A rezoning out of a residential district is decided on the exhibit. Hours, buffers, parking and the building’s scale against the neighbors have to be drawn and answered before the application goes in, so the hearing is about conditions, not a redesign. That is the order we follow on every medical office rezoning, and it is why the engineering that follows approval starts from a plan the county has already seen.

Location: Hickory Flat

Hickory Flat sits in southeast Cherokee County between Canton, Holly Springs and Milton, with established and newer subdivisions along Hickory Flat Highway and a residential base that has traveled toward Canton, Woodstock or North Fulton for medical services.

The facility brings office, medical and clinic space to that base. See our Canton and Holly Springs civil engineering pages.

Municipal and architectural compliance

Commercial development in Cherokee County must meet the county’s zoning, architectural and stormwater standards, and the conditions of the rezoning. Mack’s plan set is prepared so that:

Building placement, massing and the two-story limit meet the Office and Institutional district standards and the conditions of approval.
The approved conditions on operating hours, lighting, buffers and permitted uses are carried on the plan set.
Landscape buffers and the tree density requirement are met.
Stormwater quality and quantity meet the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual and the county review checklist.
Fire apparatus access and hydrant locations are approved by the fire marshal.

Permitting path

The project follows the sequence published in our medical office timeline: rezoning approval in February 2026, then construction documents, land disturbance permit review through CityView in cycles of about five business days, the building permit, site work, the building shell and tenant fit-out, and the inspection sequence that ends in a certificate of occupancy. Our Cherokee County medical office projects have run 60 to 120 days from complete LDP submittal to issued permit, and 14 to 22 months from land closing to certificate of occupancy without rezoning; with the rezoning in front, the full range is 18 to 28 months.

Project impact

Before: a residentially zoned tract on a growing corridor with no medical services of its own.

After: an approved medical office of about 12,000 square feet on 3.95 acres, designed and permitted to serve the Hickory Flat community.

From a civil engineering standpoint, the project highlights:

A rezoning from a residential district carried through to a permit-ready plan set on a compact parcel.
Parking and accessible design sized to medical use from the first concept.
Stormwater and utility planning inside Cherokee County buffers and tree density requirements.
One accountable engineer of record from feasibility through permitting and closeout.

Planning a medical office in Cherokee County?

Call (770) 715-7295 or contact Mack Engineering. Our office is at 5745 Stables Wy A-09, Alpharetta, GA 30004, and we serve Metro Atlanta and North Georgia.