Baldwin County is moving forward on two projects at the industrial park off U.S. 441 and the West Bypass.
Following a vote at last week’s board meeting, the board agreed June 18 to demolish a house on the property and to seek funding for a four-lane roadway from the state and federal highway into the site.
District 4 Commissioner Henry Craig opposed both measures.
District 3 Representative Sammy Hall shared the board’s rationale regarding the house.
“Based on the information we got, that house is a liability for that property,” Hall said, “and it’s in such condition it’s not worth trying to salvage because it’s been unoccupied so long.”
“And, when I say it’s a liability,” he explained, “there have been several companies that have looked at that property but have said, ‘We’re not interested in that house; it detracts from the property.’ So, we came to the conclusion that house needed to be removed.”
An analysis of the property was prepared by the real estate firm Fickling & Company, and the conclusion, in a report to the commissioners, was that the house should be demolished if the site was going to be used for industrial purposes. The condition of the house and property was cited, and necessary repairs and upgrades listed.
Noting that Craig voted against the purchase of the approximately 1,650 acres, he doesn’t understand the board’s position.
“The house, according to what is on ‘Q Public’ is valued at approximately $700,000,” Craig asserted. “That is the people’s property, and, although the house is deteriorating in some significant ways, it still has significant value.
“I don’t understand,” he went on, “why we can’t take this particular piece of property out of the Sibley-Smith Park and sell it or keep it and maintain it as residential until we get a buyer for the Sibley-Smith property.”
The commissioner said he knows the position of others.
“The argument is, according to Mr. Jonathan Jackson (executive director of the Development Authority of the City of Milledgeville and Baldwin County (DAMBC)) is that ‘Well, the house gets in the way of people wanting to develop the property.
’And, if a house that sits on a couple of acres gets in the way of a piece of property that’s 1,500 acres, I don’t believe you. I don’t have confidence in that.”
District 2 Commissioner Kendrick Butts said he trusted the economic development board in making the decision but, if he had been in office when the decision was made to buy the property, he would not have agreed to it being bought.
“I hated to do it, but I am trusting the professionals around the board to do their job. I’m not a micro-manager,” Butts said.
Regarding the vote on the roadway, Hall said the board has previously discussed the construction of an entrance to the large acreage site and decided to pursue that now.
“It will make the property more attractive and will show to developers that we are serious about trying to attract a business to that Sibley property.”
The commissioner acknowledged that the proposed roadway will serve only as an entrance.
“We’re not going all the way to the end of the property,” he said, “because we don’t know where an industry might want to locate, how much property they might want to acquire.”
According to a preliminary engineering report prepared in May for the DAMBC, the road would be four-lane asphalt, approximately 1,000 feet in length with a divided median, and coming at a total estimated cost of $1.59 million, including engineering and grant administration as well as a 20% contingency allowance.
County Manager Carlos Tobar presented the proposal to the commissioners at the June 18 meeting and stated in his recommendation that the county would seek funding in the approximate amount of $1.3 million from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
“The county’s match is 20%, or $318,149, which would come from the economic development budget of the current SPLOST,” Tobar stated in his summary.
Craig again questioned the wisdom of the project. He first noted the county has invested more than $10 million in economic development during his 11 ½ years on the board.
“To spend $1.5 million in building a four-lane road 1,000 feet into the Sibley-Smith property is an investment in my opinion that does not represent our community well.”
Craig referenced the purchase and improvement of the “Daniels” site on Highway 22 and the Sibley-Smith property, neither of which has attracted any serious consideration by potential industries, with the exception of one company that located elsewhere in the county.
“The position I have taken, which has not changed,” he stressed, “If we had invested that $10 million in the things that make our community better, then would all the companies who have come to look at the properties have a different opinion of our community?”