Commissioner Steve Taylor says school board opinion matters
A new proposed development that includes 3,000 homes off Highway 20 has Bartow County officials looking at its impact. Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said he’s spoken to project representatives and it isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
The project, which includes a complete community with retail shops, is in extreme eastern part of Bartow County near the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land on Lake Allatoona. Taylor said the majority of the project would be in Cherokee County requiring rezoning will be needed from that commission first.
“A lot of people have to weigh in on this project,” he said. “Number one, it’s the school system once again. Number two, we’re adjacent to Cherokee County. They’re our neighbors. We expect the board of commissioners to send us a letter asking either we’re okay with this project or we’re against the project.”
He said all the nearby residents will also have a stake in the project’s approval or disapproval and there will be public hearings. All of that will take time, he said.
While Cobb County is seeing some infighting between their county commission and the school system. Taylor said that doesn’t happen here. The Cobb County controversy is over the amount of rezoning by the commission that increases the need for school system infrastructure.
Specifically, rezoning issues center around multi-family developments. That brings in families with younger children, which means they will services from classroom instruction to breakfasts and lunches.
Taylor said Bartow County differs from Cobb County in at least two ways. He said multi-family housing faces more challenges getting approved here because he and the Bartow Planning and Zoning Commission are more cautious.
Taylor said the second difference is he puts a lot of weight on the opinion of the Bartow County School Board when it comes to impact.
“We have got a great relationship with our school board, county school board and city school board,” Taylor said. “The school board gets a notice way before the zoning commission, before the planning commission meets, before my public meeting and it gets final approval or denial.”
He said any letters of concern from the Bartow County School System over rezoning would weigh heavily on the planning and zoning commission’s decision.
“I would be very shocked and surprised if the planning commission approved that. I usually take the planning commission’s recommendation,” Taylor said.
Want to hear his full interview on this and Taylor’s answers to questions about other issues like data centers, his decision on a Spring Place Road project, county infrastructure, being sole commissioner, and taxes? Click here for the interview on YouTube.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany. She is a former news director at Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio.