Commissioners pen objection to subdivision annexation

The night following the first reading of a controversial subdivision annexation request at Hartwell City Council, the Hart County Board of Commissioners voted to formally reject the proposal.

On Monday, Nov. 7, Hartwell City Council held a public hearing for city and county residents to voice their position on the proposed land annexation of property between Fairview Avenue and Liberty Hill Road, on which developers Kenny Whitworth and Brandt Bentley have planned a subdivision housing complex.

“We do not have to wait on the planning and zoning board to act to have this first reading,” Mayor Brandon Johnson explained at the beginning of the hearing. “[The] main reason [for the meeting] is we wanted to use the full ability of Hart Telephone to broadcast this meeting so that folks in this community can see and hear what’s being talked about, because we know that there’s a lot of talk and there’s a lot of misinformation that’s going on out there.”

Johnson said that what was originally presented to council by Whitworth and Bentley was excessive and stressed that council “had all the rules and regulations to control and moderate” the proposed subdivision.

“Our job locally as all governments is to try to work together [and] to understand how we can better manage [growth]. The great thing about the city is that we have full scope of land use, zoning, regulations; we can tell developers such as this and anyone else what they can and cannot do as long as it’s legal,” Johnson said. “The county has put in a moratorium to try and slow things down; everybody is working together to try and get a hold of this. We understand what was originally planned to the city and the county, and [council] considered it excess as well.”

Developer Kenny Whitworth said that the proposed subdivision would benefit both Hartwell and Hart County, and provided statements from both governments’ comprehensive plans to support his argument for why it should be built.

“On the opportunities and unique possibilities on page 24, [the Hartwell comprehensive plan reads] to attract developers,” Whitworth said. “That’s what we’re trying to do is to come in and develop a property that meets the needs and extends value to the current assets to the current community that [Hartwell] has.”

Whitworth and his business partner Brandt are asking for 274 acres to be annexed by the city, and they argue that if the subdivision is permitted to be built, that commercial development will follow.

“We have discussed our plan with [city] staff for quite some time, and we’ve discussed this project with the county’s staff for about a year. It was determined that the best use of this property is to annex it into the city of Hartwell,” Whitworth said. “Our property meets the guidelines and requirements by state law to be annexed into the city of Hartwell.

“We feel like it would be a great opportunity to work with the city of Hartwell, and we feel this will give the city of Hartwell an opportunity for smart growth going forward.

The original plan submitted by Whitworth and Brandt envisions anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 homes to be built that range from single-family to multifamily homes. The plan also includes extensive sidewalks, greenway space, trails, and space for commercial development.

“There’s a lot of improvements that this project is going to bring to this area. We have a two-and-a-half mile greenway space from the ballfield all the way through the development. We want to make sure going forward that we give everyone in the community the opportunity to have space to walk on sidewalks,” Whitworth said. “This project is not just housing, it’s going to have greenways, it’s going to allow the opportunity for [commercial development].”

Whitworth addressed some of the concerns that he has heard from residents at the hearing, alluding to reducing the number of homes to be built and doing it in stages.

“We’ll phase this thing out, and it’s not going to have an immediate impact on anything initially. It’ll probably take a year to start development,” Whitworth said. “This isn’t going to be all of a sudden; you’re going to have 700-800 houses impact everything all at one time. This isn’t how this is going to work.”

Hart County Board of Commissioners chair Marshall Sayer spoke next, listing some of his concerns.

“I have several questions about this project that have not been answered at this time. What was presented to us was 274 acres, [but] what was presented to the [Department of Community Affairs] was 291 acres. Where does that difference come in?,” Sayer said. “As far as costs, there is going to be costs involved. It’s going to cost the county: [emergency medical services], solid waste, because the city uses those services that are county operated and funded.”

Sayer quoted a study published by University of Georgia economics professor Jeffrey Dorfman about Madison County that calculated the amount a home must be in order for the local government to provide adequate services for those residents.

“..A home with one child [would cost] $522,000 to break even for the services that the county provides,” Sayer said. “If there’s two children in that home it would have to be a $1,000,000 home to break even. I’m not saying that we can’t build more houses in Hart County, [but] what I am saying is that as we progress, we need to slow down. I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be anything built, but I am saying let’s take a moderate approach to this. Let’s slow down.”

After Sayer, several Hartwell residents gave their reasons as to why they objected to the proposed subdivision. The most commonly cited reason was the amount of traffic the subdivision is perceived to bring.

“My primary objection tonight is the dump off of traffic back onto Fairview Avenue,” Hartwell resident Henry Kesler said. “There needs to be a plan that’s more comprehensive in traffic control. Most of us in this building know each other, and we have a common ground of why? Why do we have to grow so quickly? Why do we have to grow so big?”

Kesler directed his comments to council by asking them why they were having a reading before the zoning and planning commission had a chance to vote, telling council that they were “better than that.”

“This is not where more is good; this is where less is better,” Kesler said. “So why do we have to have so much traffic? What is the hurry? Why do we have to have a reading before we have a zoning meeting? Because we can? You’re better than that. All of you are. Nobody is saying stop. Everybody is saying slow down and let’s figure this out to where we don’t have more problems going forward in the future.”

Board of Commissioners objection

On Tuesday, November 8, the Hart County Board of Commissioners motioned to approve a letter of objection for arbitration in regards to the annexation of land the city of Hartwell requested from the county by Whitworth and Brandt.

According to attorney Kimberly Higginbotham, the board planned to hear what the zoning and planning and commission was going to decide first before making their decision, but when the zoning and planning commissioner postponed their meeting until Nov. 29, it lapsed the time needed by the board in order to make an official objection.

“We’re not trying to be adversarial to the city [of Hartwell]; we’re just trying to comply with our ordinance,” Higginbotham said. “[Whitworth and Brandt] filed a petition and the city got it to us on Oct. 10, and we have 45 days to object from the time the city gave it to us. We all intended to get through planning and zoning, and we wanted to listen to what planning and zoning had to say, but we’re not going to get that opportunity now.”

The board will draft a letter of objection for arbitration which will go before the Georgia Department of Community and Development where it will be brought before a panel appointed by the state.

“[The county and city] will both go into that arbitration panel with our varying viewpoints, and that arbitration board is going to come out with a decision. We’ve never had to do this before, so this is going to be new for us.”