Where is Douglas County Going?
For over two years I have pondered this question, looking for the answers in heaps of documents and the written consent of the past in old Sentinel articles. Traveling to the ends of the county line, with camera in hand, to find that outside link where past and present meet. Developments spurt up like wildfire, yet of late sputter out in the red earthen dust that is left behind.
But there is no clarity.
As 2007 nears closer to an end, did Douglas County advance forward or move backward in progress? Or neither?
The first half of the year felt fast-paced, striving for causes that took on an importance but also struck controversy. SPLOST was deemed to have a second chance by all means as impact fees took a backseat, literally.
Even information about impact fees abruptly disappeared from the county’s website. Alas there was a mandatory meeting conducted by the City of Douglasville for the possible implementation of impact fees, but it did not manifest into anything greater. All the focus was pushed upon SPLOST to succeed.
While in this haste to plan ahead with the promise of funding to come, the school board was awarded a school bond at the approval of the public’s hand. By next year there should be four new schools opening (2 elementary, middle, high) at the cost of $150 million and 20 years to pay it off.
Overcrowded schools, an epidemic for 40+ years, were still a problem with the enriched housing market. A surplus of homes and new subdivisions kept appearing all throughout the county. Some even in the oddest of places.
s the year came to the half way point, scenarios began to change in the light of a beating Southern sun. Outdoor water restrictions were the norm in past summers and all followed suit as usual. Until the unforeseen truth that Georgia and much of the Deep South would come under the spell of an historic 100 years drought.
alk of SPLOST returned with a fury, shelling out a projects list that everyone could not come to terms with. Controversy over a new county jail, a YMCA, the degradation of Hunter Memorial Park, and the Bright Star Connector were just some of the highlights. Even the Douglasville’s new park outside the city limits did not sit well with residential neighbors in the county.
All the hope for SPLOST would evaporate in the public’s second disapproval of the special 1 cent tax. Suddenly no funds for a jail after land had already been acquired, prospects for the Bright Star Connector to materialize into commercial center were real and the drought took precedence that slowed everything down.
Now there is a temporary moratorium on development as the source of water is questionable in the future. A grand surplus of empty houses await company in silt-fenced line streets. Foreclosures are at their highest in years while for sale signs dot the visages of old neighborhoods.
It seems Douglas County is in a stalemate, moving forward in the first half of the year then to move backward by years end. There have been changes this year that will allow the county to grow, but the question is, where is Douglas County going?
Tags: douglas county, future, growth
