The Putnam County Board of Commissioners held its first of two regularly scheduled monthly meetings on April 4, ultimately dominated by discussion of a 90-day moratorium on issuing building permits in District 3, proposed by Commissioner Steve Hersey.
The meeting also included reports from the Putnam Development Authority, updates on short-term rental licensing and code enforcement, a request to rename roads for a proposed Habitat for Humanity community, scheduling public hearings on changes to the county code of ordinances, and obtaining an engineering study for adding a third lane to Harmony Road.
Hersey’s District 3 includes the intended site of Helms Farm, a 279-unit development on the east side of Harmony Road, bordering Lake Oconee.
The project is made more controversial by a 20-year-plus tax abatement request by the developer of the so-called “Goodwill Project,” Augusta-based Southeastern Development Associates.
Nearly 90 minutes into the almost two-hour meeting, Hersey’s proposal for a temporary moratorium on issuing construction permits in District 3 reached the floor. Josh Sprayberry, developer of the Len Resort, currently under construction on the shore of Lake Oconee in Putnam County, spoke in opposition.
“As many of you are aware, we’re in the middle of about a $175 million project. We’ve already spent over $17 million to date on that project, and it will require additional permits for parts of it, such as the villas, the marina, and the wastewater treatment plant. And so, any moratorium on that will put our entire project in jeopardy,” Sprayberry said.
He went on to point out that the Len Resort will provide approximately 150 new jobs in Putnam County. He also said its development is occurring in conjunction with another significant live-work-play project already underway near the intersection of Hwy. 44 and Old Phoenix Road that will include a new Publix supermarket, among other commercial properties.
“My kind of message to the commission is just think about what this [moratorium] sends to the outside world. I don’t think we need to be a county that’s pushing people away. I think we need to embrace the development that’s coming to Lake Oconee and that we need to get our fair share of those people coming in and that it doesn’t just go to the east side of the bridge [to Greene County].”
Several other citizens also spoke with similar concerns, including one woman as a proxy.
“This moratorium is a knee-jerk reaction to zoning concerns and a misguided wave of public outcry. It is not thoughtful planning. It is a reactive policy that will hurt not only the county but all property owners like myself who are developing land legally and responsibly,” Tracy Sutherland stated on behalf of local landowner and Lake Oconee Area Builders Association President Brandon Burgess.
Ultimately, Commissioners Tom McElhenney of District 1, Richard Garrett of District 2, and District 4’s Jeff Wooten voted against Hersey’s proposed moratorium; however, each expressed enough concern that the issue seems certain to be revisited.
An open-to-the-public work session related to a resurrected SPLOT 10 initiative is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 11 at the county office building alongside Hwy. 441 at the north end of Eatonton.