GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WTOC) – A six-month pause is turning into an eight-month moratorium on all industrial rezoning in Garden City.
The city council voted unanimously to extend it tonight.
The town of Garden City has been in desperate need of more residential development for a long time.
It is the home town of the ports and although this brings benefits, it does not help the housing problem.
“For us, unlike other cities, residential housing is key to survivability.”
The City Manager has spoken in the past of receiving too many industrial and commercial inquiries that are irrelevant to residential.
That’s why a moratorium on industrial rezoning began in May and council extended it tonight.
“If we don’t increase the number of people we have in Garden City, industrial encroachment will continue.”
Mona Lisa, president of the Garden City housing team, pushed the city towards more residential zoning.
“The need for housing is still there and of course it increases as inflation increases and rents and everything else.”
Over the past five months, she has noticed slow progress on the city side.
“Unfortunately, I noticed the trucking is still going on, you know, the industrial companies are still in business, but I see the city is growing and the residential is important.”
City manager says they’ve extended the break to make sure they’re doing it right, which includes reviewing all their ordinances before revising them, seeing which zoning classifications fit and which don’t .
Monroe says all of this contributes to slow industrial development.
“I think that helps tremendously as long as we can keep them at bay, we can kind of start to recover and regroup and galvanize to figure out where we want it, how we want it and get there.”
Properties that are already zoned cannot be changed, but the city says it can do something about future decisions.
The city says this is the last extension it can give.
It will expire in January.
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