This week City Council, with a 4-1 vote, approved the owner-requested annexation of a 34.5-acre tract on Herman Rushing Road into Statesboro, plus zoning to allow townhouses with approximately 198 units to be built there.

The requests came from Blue Water Bulloch LLC for the tract it owns, which is currently vacant, where Herman Rushing Road runs southeast from Burkhalter Road, not far from Cawana Road’s intersection with Burkhalter. This area is east of Georgia Highway 67 and outside of the bypass perimeter, in a direction where Statesboro has been expanding with voluntary commercial and residential annexations.

Previously under county zoning, Blue Water’s tract was designated Ag-5 agricultural, where a minimum lot size of five acres is required for a house. Statesboro’s city default zoning for newly annexed areas is R-40 single-family residential, with a minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet, or about nine-tenths acre.

So the Blue Water developers requested, along with annexation, a zoning change to R-2 townhome residential. These requests appeared on the May 20 council agenda as parts A and B of the same action item.

“Due to the location of this project, there are concerns regarding the roads connecting it, and in accordance with the existing intergovernmental agreement with Bulloch County, the section of Herman Rushing Road adjacent to this  development will become a city street,” Director of Planning Kathy Field told the mayor and council.

Field, who has served five years as head of Statesboro’s city Planning and Development office after more than 30 years in similar work for other cities, is retiring this month and received a retirement award and applause during the same meeting. So did Director of Public Utilities Steve Hotchkiss, now retiring after 36 years of service with the city of Statesboro.

Traffic study done

The planning staff’s recommended conditions for approval of the Blue Water project included a requirement that the developers submit a traffic study before being issued a land disturbance permit. Also, “any right of way improvements as outlined by the submitted traffic study must be annotated in the development plans for the project and completed before issuance of any certificates of occupancy,” the written recommendation stated.

The appointed city Planning Commission had recommended approval of  the rezoning  request by a 6-0 vote on May 6. The Planning Commission no longer reviews annexation requests as such, so these go directly to the elected council.

Haydon Rollins, engineer with the Hussey Gay Bell firm, spoke on behalf of the developers and their requests.

“The traffic study has already been completed, so we know what improvements are going to be needed to make the development happen,” he said.

A main reason for the placement of the project and the request for annexation is the city’s ongoing extension of utilities – meaning water and sewer lines – to the area, Rollins said.

Burkhalter Rd. concern

Joel Martin, a resident of the area, also spoke during the council’s brief hearing on the requests. He said he did not object to the annexation but had concerns about the density of development and the effect on already heavily trafficked, narrow roads.

“At Burkhalter and Cawana Road, you’ve already got 999 units being built now. …,” he said. “You’re talking about a small road, Burkhalter, and in a quick hurry you’re going to have 999 units, and how many cars are you talking about. … And there is a bottleneck up there at (Highway) 67 and Burkhalter.”

That morning about 8:30, he said, traffic had been backed up on Burkhalter to Cawana Road.

“My concern is we don’t rush into this,” said Martin.

City staff members have been working with the Georgia Department of Transportation, the county and Georgia Power on plans for improvements to Burkhalter Road “because those folks are all involved,” said City Manager Charles Penny.

The intersection of “67 and Burkhalter, that is the main challenge, because you have those utilities that have to be relocated,” he said. “But we have been working with them to plan that improvement. Fortunately, we do have funds from T-SPLOST that can make this happen.”

The Transportation-Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST, is the major funding source for city and county road projects here, to the extent that these are not funded by the state.

“I wish I could tell you it’s going to happen in the next 12 months, but I’m not going to be that (optimistic) to tell you that is the case, but it is in the planning stage,” Penny said.

With its new fiscal year, beginning June 30, the city should start “procurement” procedures just for the design and engineering work, Assistant City Manager Jason Boyles added.

Suggested waiting

District 5 Councilmember Shari Barr suggested the city consider something like a moratorium on development in that area.

“So, we’ve required of all the developers who want to build out there, and they’re already contributing extra right of way. We’ve got it for the access roads and all of that …  but is there not a case to be made to stop until we can catch up?” Barr asked.

“From my perspective of it, we can stop it,” Penny replied. “But at the same time, those developments aren’t going to pop up there tomorrow, and the construction and the improvements to the highway … they’d probably come in about the same time, as long as we can get cooperation from Georgia Power. …”

Rollins confirmed the developers’ provision of right of way and the traffic study showing where intersection improvements are needed.

“These developments don’t happen overnight,” Rollins said. “This is something that even if it’s approved tonight, you’re at least two years before you have people living in those units.”

District 3 Councilmember Ginny Hendley’s motion to approve the annexation and rezoning with staff conditions was seconded by District 2 Councilmember Paulette Chavers, who attended by teleconferencing. It passed 4-1 with Barr opposed.

Revenue yield

Without the proposed improvements, the 38.5-acre site has a county-appraised property value of $153,200, which upon annexation should produce about $528.54 annual tax revenue to the city, according to an analysis in the report by Planning and Housing Administrator Justin Williams.

But if fully built out as proposed with townhomes, the property value could rise to an estimated $49.5 million, yielding annual property tax revenue of about $170,775, according to the city’s analysis. Aid-to-construction fees for water and sewer connections are projected to yield $237,600 one-time revenue.

“(H)owever, it is unlikely that the number of units will be this high due to amenity and stormwater requirements which are ascertained during the engineering of the project,” the report states.