The developer for a proposed assisted living facility on Kilough Church Road will not move forward with the project after learning last week that many neighbors oppose the plan.

Jim King, a local architect and former county commissioner who drew up the site plan for Magnolia Assisted Living, on Monday said the developer will take his business elsewhere.

"It's unfortunate. This was a high-end, well planned project," he said. "But he only wanted to come here if the community supported it."

According to King, the developer planned to invest $5 million into the project, which would have included a 27,000 square foot building with 70 rooms on the 12 acre property on Kilough Church Road, near Ga. 400.

The facility would also have brought 35 fulltime and five part-time jobs to the county.

Neighbors attending a community meeting last week voiced concern that the project would also bring additional traffic to the already busy residential area.

Nearly 100 residents attended a March 15 meeting that was spearheaded by a neighborhood taskforce of homeowner representatives from three major subdivisions on Kilough Church Road.

Organizer Dick McNeill said the intention was to showcase the proposed assisted living facility, which he described as a far better option than previous developments considered in the area.

"This road wasn't built to accommodate a lot of traffic. It was built to accommodate a residential community," he said, reminding his neighbors that the community banded together in years past in opposition to projects that would have increased traffic on the roadway.

The assisted living center would be a better option, he said, because it would not bring as much additional traffic as many of the residents would not drive.

"It has merit," he said. "That's why your neighborhood taskforce is excited about it."

The facility would have been built on 12 acres that sits between Kilough Forest and Oak Forest subdivisions.

Mandy and James Power were among residents attending last week's meeting.

Their home in Kilough Forest backs up to the 12-acre site and would have been the closest residence to the facility.

"We've done a lot of things in our backyard and invested a lot of money in our backyard, and this is really the last thing we want to see in our backyard," she said.