REZONE REWIND
Walker County improperly rezoned Happy Valley Road parcel
Failure to follow the legal process for rezoning has stalled for now plans for a 156-unit development across from Ridgeland High School.
At the Nov. 12, 2020, Walker County commissioner’s meeting, then
Sole Commissioner Shannon Whitfield acted on a previously-tabled request from the Hutcheson family on behalf of developer Gateway Companies to rezone the 18.85-acre parcel from agricultural and commercial to residential (R-2).
A second hearing the commissioner tabled was not rescheduled on the matter prior to his rezoning the property where the apartments are planned.
“It was recently brought to our attention that a newspaper advertisement for the rezoning request for 2563 Happy
Valley Road in Rossville was inadvertently omitted,” according to a statement Aug. 19 from Walker County government. “In order to correct this misstep, the rezoning procedure for this property will be restarted.”
Vicki Aiguier asked on the Walker County Government’s Facebook page, “So we’re saying the only blunder was a newspaper notice? What about the lack of a second meeting?”
A post on the Facebook page clarified that the error was the government’s, not the newspaper’s.
“The board (of commissioners) is aware that a procedural step may have been missed,” Walker County Commissioner Mark Askew said. “County staff is gathering information, and the board will make sure the rezone request is handled properly.”
Under the restarted rezoning process, the Walker County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the application for a partial rezone Thursday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. The Walker County Board of Commissioners will hold the second hearing on the rezone request Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m.
The preliminary plat approval for the development at 2563 Happy Valley Road was on the Aug. 19 agenda for the Walker County Planning Commission; the planning commission granted the developer’s written request that consideration of the preliminary plat be extended until Oct. 21.
Project
Gateway’s multi-family housing development would utilize the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The Walker County Development Authority this year approved $19 million in tax-exempt bonds, which have no taxpayer liability, on behalf the project’s developer.
Walker County Economic and Community Development Director Robert Wardlaw, when asked the current status of the bonds, said the bonds have not closed; the project does not have a closing date but was previously targeted for this fall.
Error discovered
Elliot Pierce, a member of the Walker County Planning Commission, pointed out the error in a column he recently published on his Facebook page. He believes the rezone decision could put the county at risk of lawsuits from the developers if the decision is reversed and from citizens if it isn’t.
“Simply doing the right thing now does not erase the fact there was either gross negligence or something else in the process last time that allowed
such an error to happen and remain unknown for nine months,” Pierce said, who calls for an independent,
outside investigation.
“Furthermore, this debacle is the perfect example why the county board should implement a comprehensive transparency ordinance. If there is any lesson to be gleaned from this still unfolding train wreck, it is that the business of the public must always be conducted out in the open,” Pierce asserts.
In his posted column, Pierce praised Whitfield’s team for straightening out some problems inherited from the previous administration. He believes Whitfield has destroyed the public’s trust. So the best path forward for the county is without Whitfield as chairman of Walker’s Board of Commissioners, he said.
Breakdown
The Walker County Planning Commission conducted Feb. 20, 2020, the first public hearing and recommended denying the request.
The county’s planning and development staff — citing from Jan. 1, 2018, through Jan. 1, 2020, 15 traffic accidents near the property — also recommended denying the request.
Whitfield, on Feb. 27, 2020, said that the second hearing would be postponed at the developer’s request and that another hearing would be scheduled, legally advertised and
allow time for public comment.
An informational meeting Oct. 22, 2020, at the Walker County Civic Center addressed traffic concerns about the project, with Whitfield noting Georgia Department of Transportation data confirmed “an existing traffic problem on Happy Valley Road.”
Between 7-8 a.m. and again between 3-4 p.m., roughly 1,000 vehicles pass through the intersection of Ga. Highway 2A and Happy Valley Road daily, he said at the Oct. 22, 2020, informational meeting.
“This was not a public hearing, it was not advertised as such, nor was it advertised according to the requirements for public hearings, and no minutes were taken during the meeting,” Pierce wrote of the meeting listed as Ridgeland High Area Community Traffic Meeting — October 20, 2020, on the county’s YouTube page. “Representatives from the developer were not present at the informational traffic meeting.”
The second hearing was not rescheduled.
At the Nov. 12, 2020, meeting Whitfield stated that the required public hearings were held Feb. 20
and Feb. 27, 2020. He said the matter had been tabled at the Feb. 27 meeting.
“We are bringing this back up and taking action on this now, so we will approve this as submitted,” he said Nov. 12, 2020.
Many residents in the area opposed the development because of the increased traffic it would bring. Within the last year, the county also approved a planned unit development of nearly 500 houses, to be built over the next five to seven years, at the corner of Happy Valley Road and Battlefield Parkway.
Perry Lamb, on the county’s Facebook page, posted that he and other opponents to the low-rent housing project attended Feb. 27, 2020, what was to be the second public hearing, but the developers did not attend.
“Commissioner Whitfield illegally changed the zoning with zero public input,” Lamb, who faced off against Whitfield in 2020 in the Republican primary for the chairman’s seat, posted. “Again this is the county hiding information from the public and not being honest.”
Oversight
The Walker County Messenger, among a list of questions submitted to Walker County Government about this situation, asked the county if anyone is designated to shepherd a rezoning request through the process from start to finish to ensure that all requirements are met and
nothing gets overlooked. Joe Legge, Walker County’s public relations director, acknowledged the rezoning process error and stated the county’s “team is currently reviewing the necessary course of action to correct this misstep.”
Pierce said he does not believe the rezoning was a “simple oversight” because so many people are involved in the process for them all to forget the lack of a new second hearing.
Those involved in the rezoning process typically can include a municipality’s planning office staff, planning commission members, attorney, employee(s) designated to send required notices to the legal organ, clerk who takes related minutes, staff who maintain records, chief executive and elected officials who vote whether to approve or deny a rezone request. The economic development staff may be involved in the process.
On the applicant’s side, the property owner, developer (if different than the owner) and the developer’s attorney can typically be involved in the process.
The Georgia Attorney General’s office did not respond to questions submitted Aug. 19 about this situation.