The Bulloch County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution during their Tuesday, April 4, meeting objecting to the city of Statesboro’s pending annexation of a roughly 37-acre tract on Beasley Road.
In presenting the resolution, County Attorney Jeff Akins said that a developer’s proposed zoning change to R-6 single-family residential and the resulting increase in population density would “impose infrastructure demands” on the county. The added burden would include a need for “intersection improvements, road repairs and resurfacing,” and the project would “substantially increase traffic,” the resolution asserts.
Previous attempt
Originally described as 41 acres and now as 36.55, this is the same undeveloped land owned by Bel Air Estates Inc. that Statesboro City Council first voted to annex Jan. 17 at the request of the property owners. The council then voided that annexation through a Feb. 21 vote to settle a legal challenge mounted by six Bulloch County residents, most residing on property neighboring the tract, two of whom are also Statesboro city residents.
Superior Court Judge Ronnie Thompson signed the consent order Feb. 23 in which the city agreed the Jan. 17 annexation was “null and void and of no effect whatsoever.” Before accepting the agreement, Statesboro officials acknowledged errors in the city’s process of notifying the county commissioners and county school system.
But beginning in February, city officials started using a revised practice, with City Council voting to acknowledge receipt of each annexation request while the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education are informed.
On March 21, Statesboro’s council acknowledged receipt of the new request from the Bel Air Estates Inc. owners.
Before Tuesday’s meeting, the county commissioners had the proposed resolution in hand, ready for a vote. The wording based the annexation on grounds provided under a paragraph of state law, Official Code of Georgia, Annotated, 36-36-113.
OCGA 36-36-113 allows county governments to object to any city’s annexation of land that will cause a “material increase in burden” on the county in any of three ways: 1. the proposed change in zoning or land use; 2. proposed increase in density (in this case the number of people living in an area); or 3. infrastructure demands.
County road ‘burden’
The key paragraph of the resolution states:
“The Bulloch County Board of Commissioners hereby objects to the Annexation on the grounds that the proposed change in zoning and land use and the proposed increase in density will impose infrastructure demands … that will constitute a material increase in the burden … and have a significant financial impact on Bulloch County, including but not limited to intersection improvements, road repairs and resurfacing, and substantially increase traffic.”
Nearby properties are zoned R-20 for single-family residential use in the county’s zoning system. Statesboro’s default zoning for newly annexed property is R-40 single-family residential, which implies a minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet, or nine-tenths of an acre. But the city has no standards for R-40 lots.
Originally, when Bel Air Estates Inc. requested the annexation in January, its owners proposed a change to R-2 townhome residential to allow developer Lamar Smith of Smith Family Homes to build a townhouse subdivision with up to 212 home units on what is now shown as less than 40 acres.
That potential surge of new residents, the amount of traffic and changes in the quiet character of the neighborhood were reasons neighbors gave for objecting to the annexation and rezoning the first time around.
With the new annexation request, the developer has proposed a change not to R-2 but to R-6 single-family residential zoning, which engineer Joey Maxwell of local firm Maxwell, Reddick & Associates said in February would be for a plan with 124 detached houses.
The developers made annexation into Statesboro a condition for buying the land from the current owners because annexation will allow the homes to be connected to the city’s water and sewer systems.
Arbitration ahead?
“If you choose to approve the resolution, we will send notice of the objection to the city of Statesboro and to the (Georgia) Department of Community Affairs,” Akins told the commissioners.
Commissioner Timmy Rushing made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Anthony Simmons, and the vote was 6-0, with all commissioners present.
Now the city will have an opportunity to respond to the county’s objection. Then an arbitration process could ensue in which the two local governments try to work out details of the annexation and zoning, county Planning and Development Director James Pope said in an earlier interview.
Meanwhile, the county government would seek to have a traffic study done showing the subdivision’s potential effects on county roads.
“As it works through that process, we would have a study done and either show our case is true or not, but we think based just on that annexation it would have some impacts to the county infrastructure in the area,” Pope said Monday.
Habitat differs
No public hearing was required for the objection resolution. But the time for general public comments in Tuesday evening’s meeting followed immediately after the vote, and Marcus Toole, community outreach coordinator for Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County, spoke on the topic.
“Habitat for Humanity actually supports the annexation of that piece of land on Beasley Road,” he said. “Bulloch County and Statesboro desperately need the housing, and the reality of it is … you have 15,000 to 20,000 people moving into the county in seven years. We need the housing, and that impact on the infrastructure is minor in comparison.”