Henry County officials are voicing their objection to another annexation proposal, and a local neighborhood is getting in on the protest.
On the heels of a recent decision involving property in Locust Grove, the Henry County Board of Commissioners had listed on its November 6 meeting agenda a resolution objecting to the proposed annexation and rezoning of 62 acres of property in McDonough, on both sides of McDonough Parkway just north of Jonesboro Road. The proposed development at the site includes apartments and townhomes.
The resolution states that the county’s future land use map designates the property for parks and recreation uses, and the proposed rezoning is inconsistent with that.
According to the resolution, the land use change would result in:
• A substantial change in intensity of allowable use of property and a change to a significantly different allowable use.
• A substantial difference from existing uses suggested for the property by the county’s comprehensive land use plan, zoning ordinances and land use ordinances.
• Increased infrastructure demands related to the proposed new zoning classification.
County officials are objecting due to the “material increase in burden” upon the county, the proposed increase in density, infrastructure demands, and inconsistency with the future land use map.
The resolution authorizes the county attorney “to initiate such legal proceedings as are proper to enjoin the annexation and/or rezoning and/or to initiate the arbitration proceedings authorized under OCGA 36-36-114.”
In a letter dated October 4, the city officially notified the Board of Commissioners that the annexation had been requested. The city is required by law to inform the county in this way. There was no indication of which way the city might rule on the matter. The letter stated that the McDonough City Council will consider the issue at its November 19 meeting.
A flyer distributed by property owners in the immediate vicinity of the site encouraged residents to come out to McDonough City Hall for the November 19 council meeting as well as the November 13 Planning Commission meeting to speak out against the plan.
“This development will congest our roads, decrease property values, overwhelm our schools, put a drain on all infrastructure, negatively impact our quality of life, and create immense safety problems,” the flyer read. Citizens were urged to call members of the City Council and Planning Commission in McDonough as well as BOC chair June Wood and commissioner Gary Barham, in whose district the subject property lies.
