For years, Clayton County has tried to send an economic development message that the county is open for business.
But after a contentious confrontation with developers Tuesday night, the south metro community might need help working on its idea of a welcome mat.
At a raucous county commission meeting that lasted hours, a dozen developers, realtors and citizens criticized the board for approving a new land use plan for which landowners say they had no input.
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It follows a development moratorium Clayton — again without consulting landowners — put on property in the Mountain View area, near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, earlier this year as part of its pitch for Amazon's second headquarters.
“You think we’re going to be quiet,” said J.R. Wright, who said his company, Reliant real estate, had very little forewarning that the county intended to rezone the 23 acres it owns in Mountain View from light industrial to office and commercial entertainment. The county commissioners envisioning the rezoning are attempting to create an entertainment district in the flight path of the airport.
“The next guy who comes in is going to know exactly what happened,” he said, alluding to the tight knit development community.”They’re going to say, ‘Why do we want to play ball with people who want to play by their own rules.’ You’ve set a precedent that is going to be very hard to undo.”
Steve Berman, founder of OA Development, which owns about 85 acres in Mountain View, agreed. He said most of his fellow property owners had a distribution center or some other logistics function on their minds when they bought in the area near the airport. He accused the five-member county commission of arbitrarily changing the zoning to something many don’t think will work in the area.
The dust up comes as Clayton is trying to get its economic development act together. The county lags its metro Atlanta counterparts in just about every measure, including wages and educational attainment, and has been trying to take steps to turn itself around.
But many say disputes between the commission and the county's development authority are stymieing the momentum.
“This is going to scare off a lot of investors, even if it’s rectified next year,” said Bob Burdell, a co-founder of Reliant. “They don’t have a lot of expertise in Clayton County on economic development or in the private sector.”
At the center of the controversy has been outgoing Commissioner Michael Edmondson, who, until late fall, simultaneously served on the commission while also working as chairman of the development authority. While the county's attorneys ruled the dual role legal, Clayton residents loudly protested Edmondson's votes at every meeting. Edmondson lost his 4th District seat in a runoff in August.
For most of the meeting Tuesday, Edmondson, who is no longer development authority chairman but remains on the board, sat stone-faced as one critic after another accused him of a power grab as he departs the commission.
Commission Chairman Jeff Turner and Commissioner Felicia Franklin Warner both questioned why the vote had to be taken Tuesday given the questions raised by residents and the development community, but were rebuffed by their colleagues.
Warner said she was particularly disappointed because a MARTA official, who had spoken earlier in the meeting, emphasized that getting commuter rail in Clayton in part depends on the county showing it has development plans around the stops.
“I don’t see a sense of urgency that we have to do this tonight,” Warner said in trying to table the vote.
