Original article published by Liz Fabian of GPBnews.org

No, we hope that nobody will go hungry. However, the lack of nearby food was addressed during a local meeting in Macon Georgia over the redevelopment of a Kroger grocery store.

Dozens of people opposed the conversion of a vacant grocery store into a storage facility in a USDA defined food desert coming before the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission of Georgia on Monday.

Several neighbors spoke out against a proposed climate-controlled self storage facility in the old Kroger at 400 Pio Nono Ave. in Macon.

The commission had been voted to defer the proposal for two weeks to give developers a chance draw up a concept for an outparcel store that might address community and neighborhood concerns.

Axela Development Group seeks a conditional use permit to build 569 storage units inside the 84,000 sq. ft. supermarket building about a block off of Vineville Avenue.

George Greer, the Macon attorney presenting the proposal, said the project would keep the sprawling vacant shopping center from deteriorating.

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