Developers Dennis King and Scott Lybrand have asked the City Council to annex their Walker County property on Schmidt Road near Park City Road, which is adjacent to Fort Oglethorpe.
If approved, King said Walker County will provide sewer and water service to the subdivision, while Fort Oglethorpe will provide garbage service and police and fire protection. King said each house lot would average 14,000-15,000-square-feet.
He said children from the subdivision would attend Walker County Schools.
I grew up here," King said. "I want to see Catoosa do well and Fort Oglethorpe do well."
Mayor Judd Burkhart said the annexation would bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in new property tax revenue and fees.
"This is a win-win situation for Fort Oglethorpe," he said. "This will be a nice subdivision for the city."
Councilman Harold Silcox said he is concerned about the amount of traffic the development will add.
"The biggest issue is about dumping all those cars on Schmidt Road," he said. "There's going to be a minimum of 216 automobiles, and houses that have teenagers are going to have another car."
Fort Oglethorpe Deputy Police Chief Johnnie "Red" Smith and Fort Oglethorpe Fire & Rescue Chief Bruce Ballew both said their departments will be able to handle coverage of the annexed area, if approved.
Silcox said he is also concerned about clear-cutting, but King assured council members that there will be no clear-cutting of trees on the property.
Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), who also serves as the Walker County planning and economic development director, said property owners in the subdivision would pay property taxes in Walker County, as well as Fort Oglethorpe.
"The property owner has a right to ask to be annexed into a city," he said. "In the city, you get more services, like added police protection and garbage service. We (Walker) don't provide garbage service."
Mullis said there are three ways to annex a piece of property in Georgia:
- Annex 100 percent of a property that is contiguous, or touches, the city border;
- If owners of at least 60 percent of a property in a contiguous area want to come into a municipality, then the other 40 percent can also be annexed;
- State legislative action.
Mullis said the second option was "unwise."
City Attorney Ron Goulart said that a small portion of Fort Oglethorpe already lies in Walker County, making Fort Oglethorpe one of the few cities in Georgia situated in two counties.
The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed annexation at its Aug. 9 meeting at City Hall
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