Subdivision plans come full circle

By Jana Cone/reporter

TIFTON March 18, 2008 10:34 pm

— Glenn Green, the local developer and businessman who has tried for more than a year to get 117 acres of land in northeast Tift County rezoned for his proposed Willows subdivision, has now come full circle — but this time he is adding a little twist to the plan.
Green will go before the Greater Tift County Planning and Zoning Commission next month with a rezoning request for Phase I of The Willows — as he had in late 2006, when his request was denied. This time Green has made some modifications to the original plan for 40 lots on 28.8 acres. He is going to carve out six acres of the plan and set it aside for another venture.
The six-acre area that Green has set aside — the corner of Old Ocilla Road and New River Church Road — happens to be the exact area where he placed two old mobile homes and several hog feeders, which also happens to be next to Sheriff Gary Vowell’s home. The dilapidated mobile homes and hog feeders appeared on the property after area homeowners opposed Green’s development plans and stopped his rezoning efforts. One of those homeowners was Vowell.
At the time he placed the mobile homes and hog feeders on the property, Green said he had no comment other than to say that he was going to “forget this property for now.”
Green’s plan now is to reserve that six acres for “moderate income” duplexes. “We’re just building two for now,” Green said. Green said that one of the duplexes will be a two-bedroom, one bath and the other duplex will be a two-bedroom, two bath.
“We’re just going to build (duplexes) from the old house to the sheriff’s house,” Green said without further explanation. He did say he needed to keep his construction crews busy.
He said when the subdivision was built it would have a six-foot fence around it and none of the homes would face Old Ocilla Road.
It was in June 2007 that Green went forward with his rezoning request for Phase II of The Willows. After Phase I was denied, he had to wait six months before he could bring it back before P&Z.
In August last year Green finally tasted rezoning victory when the Tift County Board of Commissioners approved his rezoning request for Phase II by a vote of 3-to-2. It proved to be a hollow victory when the homeowners appealed the 3-to-2 vote, saying it required four affirmative votes of the seven-member board to pass the rezoning request. In October, Superior Court Judge Bill Reinhardt set aside the 3-to-2 vote, agreeing that it required four votes to pass, and Green was back to square one.
Green said the six months’ wait to bring back the rezoning request for Phase II is just around the corner.
The property is presently zoned Agricultural Use (A-U) and Green said that he does not have to have it rezoned to build duplexes. “It’s just like with a trailer, you have to have three acres,” he said.

To contact reporter Jana Cone, call 382-4321, ext. 208.

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