The Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting today that traffic is the major concern for luring away business that are wanting to relocate into Atlanta, the L.A. of the South. With impending gridlock on the way, businesses are taking in consideration of moving to Dallas and Charlotte because of better transportation models. Despite the traffic, Georgia now is offering less-than satisfying incentives for businesses.

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?

Contributed by Ginny Ray (aka Obi’s Sister)

In a weird way, life has a way of coming full circle. As a child, my family would trek from Jonesboro to Flint Hill Church in Douglas County for the family reunion of my grandparent’s siblings and distant relations. Being young, I had no idea of where we were - only that there long tables covered with fluttering tablecloths, groaning with food. I remember playing hide and seek in the cemetery with my cousins, what seemed like mobs of white-haired little old ladies and being shooed away from giant platters of fried chicken.

Now I live in the very same county I used to unknowingly visit as a child. Fourteen years ago, we moved here for the affordable housing, good schools, a reasonable commute and cows. Yes, you heard me. Cows. Where else could you see cows on your way to work? Rolling pastures, woods for miles, little cafes, two lane roads - the quiet ruralness of it all was comforting. I only wished it had lasted a little longer.

Losing Georgia noted the other day

“Douglas County has less greenspace per acre than metro Atlanta as a whole.” (Douglas Neighbor Newspaper cited)

While most studies are usually done with a hidden agenda, all you have to do is drive around this little county to see that this one hits close to home. Any space bigger than a sandbox is being dug up / paved over / built upon. Doesn’t matter there is an entirely empty shopping center down the street - let’s build another!

Lately, along with the spate of bad manners (and my readers know my opinions on manners - I’ve ranted enough about it here,here, and here for starters) shown by everyone from the media to the clerk at the grocery store, there’s been a good deal of talk around the county - basically “What Happened?”. One day, we’re the little forgotten neighbor to the West, the next we’re just as over-developed and crime-ridden as the rest of Atlanta. So many factors go into making a community, for better or worse. How do city fathers navigate the tangled web of growth without ruining what attracts people to their town in the first place? When do you cross the line between building infrastructure to support residents and schools to the greed of development for the sake of expanding the tax base?

Greed, personified by The Ol’ Grinch himself, used to be a sin. Along with lying, cheating, stealing, killing… you get my drift. Nowadays, everything is acceptable. But think for a minute (just a short, little minute), of the story of The Grinch. Remember his surprise when - after he’d stolen all the toys from Whoville, the honkers and sqonkers and the Roast Beast - he heard the Who’s singing on Christmas morning? That he knew that Christmas (and therefore, ahem life) wasn’t about greed or avarice or envy? Remember, his heart grew three sizes that day. What a lesson….

I’m still waiting for the Grinch’s heart to grow here in DC.

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The Douglas County Sentinel (registration required) is reporting today that Douglas County will be having for “the proposed Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study of Georgia Highway 92 (Fairburn Road) from Interstate 20 east to Lake Monroe Road.” Citizens interested in this new area of growth can attend the meeting at the 6 p.m. in Citizen’s Hall at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Early this year Losing Georgia published an article about the proposed LCI study and Highway 92 corridor after some citizen e-mails. Highway 92 is expected to be the next big boom of development for the county.

By contributor writer Mike Moore

Suburban sprawl; unchecked and unprepared for growth; strained reservoirs and other precious natural resources in high demand � the list could go on for hours as to why we must plan for the exponential development that is occurring in Georgia in general and Douglas County in particular.

But I do not wish to sound the alarmist bell with this note. To the contrary, as an MBA and licensed builder, I firmly believe in policies that expand the economic base and provide opportunities to all people to maintain or increase their stations in life. What I do not agree with is the unchecked destruction of our history and the unplanned for mess that all too often characterizes growth in places that are not prepared to see it happen.

Politicians love growth � be it residential or commercial in nature. These well- intentioned folks will understandably proclaim how they have produced jobs for their constituents and increased the revenues of local government without raising taxes by expanding the economic base. Developers and business owners like growth because it creates a scarcity (or a demand) for goods and services that retail, industrial and residential construction can then fill. These are all good, worthy and necessary goals in a free market economy.

The trouble occurs when, in the hysteria to grow for all the good reasons, we downplay and/or downright ignore the negative aspects. All too often a community loses what made it a community in the first place because of unchecked and unmanaged growth. Street corners that defined a unique cross section of community (and Americana) become home to mega-chain restaurants and retailers. Trails that once were trod by early settlers and Native Americans become part of a soul-less mega-development. This is often labeled as �progress�, and those who question its merit are cast aside with dispersion when, in fact, this is the homogenizing of our culture.

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