A new residential neighborhood in Chatham County near Guyton city limits and an industrial project in Effingham County could bring additional housing, jobs and investment while adding to the area’s ongoing growth.
If approved, the new subdivision is expected to see more than 500 units once fully built and the warehouse proposed for Old River Road totals one million square feet.
Here is what to know about both projects.
One million square feet
Panattoni Development Co., Inc is proposing to build a one million-square-foot industrial building on Old River Road. The site is currently zoned agricultural.
At the Sept. 8 planning and zoning meeting, the board unanimously recommended approving a rezoning request
for 99 acres of land for warehouse use. A Development of Regional Impact (DRI) report says that Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America and Georgia Ports are the "major drivers" behind the need for the facility.
Attorney Robert McCorkle, who attended the meeting on behalf of the petitioner, said the developer is no stranger to the market, having built and sold two buildings in the Savannah Portside International Park.
"There's limited availability for this size of building in the immediate location and especially given the amount of time it's going to take for a project like this to actually come to market," said McCorkle. "I feel like it's a good site and a good time...in making this application, we looked at the surrounding transitional area around us and chose specifically light industrial, which is really the least intense of the three industrial uses that are an option. The uses in light industrial are pretty limited. It's not a likely site for residential and agricultural, as it's currently zoned, given the changing transitional industrial landscape that surrounds this piece of property."
He also spoke to how the landscape of Old River Road has changed and that industrial growth is on the rise, saying a ready-mixed concrete plant, dump truck company and proposed asphalt company are all located on the 2-lane road.
"The uses around us has certainly been transitioning over the last five or six years," said McCorkle. "The use isn't overly burdensome on infrastructure. As was mentioned, we'll end up having public water at the site. The sewer will be septic. Warehouse users in general are not big users of water and sewer anyway. We also don't believe the project is detrimental to neighboring properties. Neighboring properties are already impacted by the change of uses that have surrounded this piece of property."
Effingham County resident Stacy Jones said she and her family live adjacent to the property and the situation is "unnerving."
"If their parents and their stepson lived on the property next door, would they feel comfortable with this being rezoned next door to their family? We just have questions about it," she said. "There's traffic questions. There's environmental issues. Y'all are probably going to vote in favor of it, but I think it's really unfair that the people in the neighborhood don't know all the planning that goes into it, and then you come to a meeting like this and you're caught completely off guard. You really don't know what questions to ask. You don't know what objections to make. You don't know what the long-term impact this is going to mean for your family and the property that you live on."
The development is estimated to be $85 million at full build out and could generate up to $1 million in annual tax revenue. Some 200 people are expected to work at the site. A traffic study revealed the project is expected to generate at least 270 traffic trips per day at peak hours.
Hodgeville Road
A proposed development along Highway 30 could bring a mix of 563 single-family and multi-family residential units to the area, adding another large housing project to a corridor experiencing continued growth.
A DRI report reveals Blue Capitol LLC is looking to develop a mixed-use property in Chatham County near Hodgeville Road and Keller Road, just outside the Effingham County line. The project would consist of 563 residential units on 55 acres, as well as 587,000 square feet of commercial space.
The estimated value of the entire project is $160 million and could generate $2 million in yearly local tax revenue.
A traffic study shows the project would generate 521 vehicle trips per day during peak hours. The rezoning request has not come before the Chatham County Board of Commissioners at this time.
Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Massive warehouse building proposed for Effingham County | Exclusive
