Today the Bartow County Planning Commission will meet to hear the proposed zoning case of about 16,500 acres of land owned by the Aubrey Corporation. Previously the applicants had also applied to create a new overlay district that requires at least 10,000 acres.
That proposed text amendment recently passed through the planning commission and the county commissioner and is now an overlay district that can be applied for. This district is called the Planned Greenspace and Development District.
The applicants have also held public hearings in attempts to answer people’s questions about this case. Specifically, the sale of the land that could fetch over 300 million dollars. Many of the questions that arose during the public hearings were in relation to the Pinelog Wildlife Management area, which has been open to the public for 46 years. This land was made open to the public through the current owners annually leasing the land to the state of Georgia. The current lease ends in May and depending on how this case, and the sale of land progresses, it may not be reviewed. However, it was stated in the public hearings that the current owners have been in ongoing discussions with the department of natural resources to determine if a deal could be reached.
The meeting that is being held today will not determine if the land is granted the overlay district. This meeting will only be sending a recommendation of approval or denial to the county commissioner.
With that being said this meeting will still be moved from the normal meeting space due to the anticipated large crowds. This meeting will be held in courtroom D on the op floor of the courthouse. If you would like to speak during the meeting you must arrive before the start time at 6:00 p.m. and sign up. This case appears to be the last one that will be heard on the agenda after three other cases. Again, this meeting will take place today at 6:00 p.m. in Courtroom D of the courthouse at 135 W. Cherokee Ave. in Cartersville. On April 24th this case will go before the county commissioner where final action will be taken.