Zoning battles take center stage in two cities

There is a constant push and pull between citizens who would have their neighborhoods stay in the same idyllic condition they were in decades ago and the constant push for more commercial development. Such is the case in two cities in Middle Georgia. In Warner Robins, by a narrow 4-3 city council vote, with the mayor casting the deciding vote, a Wal-Mart grocery store was approved at U.S. 41 and White Road, on the opposite side of Arrie Road from Eagle Springs Elementary School. The surrounding neighbors cited everything from increased traffic to a state law that forbids dispensing controlled drugs within 1,000 feet of a school (the store will have a pharmacy).

On the other side of the ledger, this Wal-Mart will employ between 90 and 100 people. Even with the vote of approval, opponents could decide to take the issue to court. That’s exactly what’s happened in Macon where Rivoli Downs residents filed a petition asking a judge to overturn a unanimous Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission decision that rezoned a 60-acre site on Bowman Road from a single-family residential to one that would allow apartments. The residents say apartments would lower their property values. The developers’ attorneys counter that the Rivoli Downs residents have no standing in the case.

How do you balance the need for development and the wishes of longtime residents in a growing community? There are no easy answers and just about every issue faced by either the volunteer Planning and Zoning Commission or the Warner Robins council, is fraught with land mines, real or imagined. We can offer no advice here except words of caution to potential buyers.

If thinking of purchasing a home near a major intersection, understand that sooner or later, development will probably come that way. Ask the residents who live around the Zebulon Road area.

The same is true of Warner Robins. In the past 20 years the city expanded beyond Interstate 75 and development quickly followed. What used to be open country is now filled with subdivisions, grocery stores and retail. Is it all good? That’s not for us to decide, but there is a song that says; “Everything must change. Nothing stays the same.”

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Zoning battles take center stage in two cities."