Bartow County Citizens Oppose High Density Development.

Part 2 of the "Excess Development in Bartow" Series.

Jan 20, 2023

An example of survey results from the Bartow Development Survey, 2022. More details and larger images below.

The Citizens of Bartow County have spoken. The large majority have made it quite clear to the County government and associated planners that they want responsible development, not over-development. But that is not what is occurring now in Bartow County and it seems to be getting completely ignored in the process. HOW do we know what the citizens of Bartow want? Well, the County government asked them in a survey. Here are the results of the survey…. (continued below).

The 1/18 Aubrey Corporation Approval Vote was Delayed by the County Commission. (A Full analysis on Aurbey Corp PGDD plan is forthcoming, but here is a start). There appears to be “pushback” against the massive plan.
The new dates for public input at an Aubrey Corp PGDD Open Houses on a Tuesday February 7 and Thursday February 9, both from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the Commissioner's hearing room, courthouse main floor, 135 W. Cherokee Ave, Cartersville.
The rezoning case public hearing will be heard by Planning Commission on March 27 at 6:00 PM in the courthouse basement hearing room. Commissioner Taylor's hearing will be April 12 at 10:00 AM in the courthouse main floor hearing room.
Perhaps there is an opportunity for more citizen feedback on the matter. If you have concerns about the Aubrey PGDD Plan, let your concerns be known in the comments section below and to the County Commissioner, Steve Taylor, at commissionerpublic@bartowcountyga.gov

High Density Development Proceeds. At the 1/18/23 County Commissioner meeting a massive townhome project was approved at Branton Road (off of Highway 20 between I75 and 411) over the objections of the surrounding neighbors. The Neighbors would have been perfectly comfortable with single family homes in that space, but instead Townhomes will be squeezed into the space.

This is an example of the types of developments happening throughout Bartow county over the objections of citizens expressed during the zoning change meetings and also on the survey discussed below.

The Bartow County Development Survey

The County conducted a survey1 of nearly 2,000 people in Bartow County, nearly all of whom lived here, in the Summer of 2022. This was part of the 5 year comprehensive plan2 update now underway and scheduled for approval over the next two months.

This survey was to determine “community interests and needs regarding land use and development, growth, public services provided, housing needs, and financing mechanisms.”

Well, the results do not seem to line up with what is happening now in Bartow. Remember the responses when driving by the latest massive new construction project to build townhouses, apartments, high density single family home neighborhoods and more. Remember this when learning about the latest effort to turn rural land into even more massive corporate projects. Overall people don’t want more townhouses, apartments and loss of land. They do support more single family homes. Read on.

What Bartow Citizens Like and Support

The survey revealed that the majority of Bartow residents like the following (results rounded):

Small Town Atmosphere (82%)
Access to I-75 (64%)
Historic Down Town (59%)
Safe Community with great police and fire departments (51%)

So, to sum up, Bartow residents like a small town they can drive to and from easily on the interstate and the historic downtown. However, only a tiny majority feel it is safe. It is likely that with more population density, the safety factor will be affected negatively.

What type of housing do the citizens support for MORE development? The most common development favored were single family houses on large lots and “none” with other options far less supported.

Owner Occupied homes with large lots (42%)
NONE (39%)
More housing catering to retirees and seniors (27)%

What was NOT supported?

More Workforce housing (13%)
More renter housing options (11%)
More apartments (4%)

So it appears that when expressing a choice on what people would like to see developed in Bartow, people are far more likely to favor single family homes or no further housing development. But very few want to see more apartments, rental spacing and “workforce” housing. Images of detailed survey results below.

What Bartow Citizens do Not Support and Threats.

It is also obvious what things the citizens of Bartow do not want to support. The survey actually asked what sorts of “threats” they saw currently and based on development.

Most were concerned about the effect of over-development. Traffic congestion was the number one ranked concern, barely nudging out drug abuse and other crime.

Community Threats:

Traffic congestion (62.4%)
Drug abuse and other crime (62.2%)
Loss of Agricultural Land (58%)
Suburban Development replacing Rural land (53%)
Blighted/unkempt properties (44%)
Industrial Development (43%)

This survey demonstrates how sensitive people are to losing rural and agricultural land to development and also the problems that can come with it like traffic congestion and crime/drug abuse.

The Citizens also made clear what types of homes they can support. Remember, that the most common type of home that Bartow residents do support are single family homes on large lots. But most else is seen as a “threat”.

New residential development threats:

Manufactured or mobile home parks (78%) and Manufactured or mobile homes (60%)
Apartments (65%)
Duplexes/triplexes/quadplexes (63%)
Small lot subdivision development (55%)
Rental Housing (55%)
“Tiny” homes 41%

Conclusion

The people of Bartow have made it quite clear, in a survey conducted by the local government, that they do not want over-development. They want to keep the small town feel, preserve rural and agricultural land and ensure single-family homes on large lots is the main form of housing built. They oppose dense, small housing like townhomes, apartments, rental housing and homes on small lots. They recognize that traffic is a problem and don’t want more congestion.

The question is this then: Why do local governments keep approving projects to build townhomes, apartments, small lot subdivisions and more? Why do they keep ignoring the will of the very people they surveyed and who have spoken? Certainly there will and should be development. Certainly we need more housing. But the housing to approve should be low-density residential which allows about 3 houses to be built per acre (R-1 zone) with occasional higher density single family homes at 6 per acre on smaller lots (R-8 zone). However the large corporate interest at play seem to get what they want nearly every time - more profit from over-dense development while the community suffers and doesn’t get the single family homes that they desire and is in high demand.

There is only one way to ensure that citizens of Bartow preserve the community they prefer. We are going to have to be more involved and make our voices heard to ensure that development is responsible, preserves the community we want and allows growth that serves housing needs, without permanently converting Bartow County into Cobb County.

More to come as the series continues next week on the external forces pushing dense development here.