Garden City is pausing industrial rezoning applications for up to six months while officials assess the city's zoning ordinance and identify ways to increase residential construction.
Council unanimously approved the moratorium resolution during Monday night's council meeting, citing a need to properly assess the city's current land uses and ensure the comprehensive plan is still being followed.
This marks the second Chatham County municipality to put a hold on industrial zoning applications this year. In January, the city of Bloomingdale approved an eight-month moratorium on both industrial and multi-family zoning applications as the city evaluates its infrastructure capacity.
Garden City's moratorium effectively prohibits rezoning applications submitted after Monday's council meeting. Existing applications won't be affected and any applications for parcels already zoned as industrial do not apply.
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Credit: Courtesy of Garden City
Credit: Courtesy of Garden City
According to City Manager Scott Robider, Garden City primarily consists of commercial and industrial builds as opposed to residential communities. That's due to the municipality's proximity to one of the busiest ports in the nation, the Georgia Ports Authority's (GPA) Garden City Terminal.
"Garden City is the place to be as far as the ports are concerned," said Robider, "We need more citizens, we need more rooftops, so that's going to be a big focus during the six-month period."
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
All types of builds have increased in Chatham County, according to a 2021 report from the Board of Assessors. But, notably, the data shows that Garden City made up 1% of residential permits last year and 5% of commercial and industrial permits.
Robider said they receive applications for industrial rezoning almost daily.
"We're being inundated with people who are either illegally trying to put container yards in ... and we have some more (container yards) coming up on Dean Forest Road," said Mayor Don Bethune. "We just need to take a look at everything we're doing with that."
During the moratorium, the city will review their current industrial zoning laws and make any necessary changes to guidelines such as buffer zones.
Residential communities neighbor the Garden City Terminal, the single largest and fastest growing container terminal in North America. As a result, the city is known for bearing the brunt of truck traffic, train-induced delays and routine horn blasts.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The GPA's continued record growth is often lauded as an economic boon for Chatham and surrounding counties, but residents consider the industrialization a growing concern. At community meetings and city council sessions, residents consistently cite port traffic and encroaching warehouses as a top threat to their quality of life.
Warehouses abutting residential communities have led to homeowners selling their property and moving elsewhere, chipping away at neighborhoods. At times, those residential parcels are then rezoned to commercial or industrial to accommodate warehouse growth and also because the property's residential value has diminished.
Goal is to spark residential growth
When Bloomingdale enacted its moratorium, council members pointed to residents' desire to maintain the quiet, community-oriented feel. The city of about 2,800 is made up largely of residential-agricultural land, and its officials have a goal to maintain the small-town environment.
Garden City residents are calling for the same -- to maintain and grow the residential communities they do have, as well as bring in the necessary commercial resources such as grocery stores and restaurants.
"We have established residential neighborhoods that are being threatened by industrial encroachment," said Robider, "so we're going to take this time to look at how we can better protect them and still be equitable to the folks that want to do industrial business here."
Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: A second West Chatham city freezes industrial development. Why growth trends are troubling
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