Massive PUD set for Suburban Meriwether County

[ATLman1]

The largest residential/business development in Meriwether County history is being planned by a Hiram, Ga., company on about 1,319 acres west of Greenville. Canaco Development Group LLC, proposes to develop Briarwood Township, a Planned Unit Development along Georgia Highway 109 with 2,300 houses to be built in phases over a 14-year period.

Greenville is located north of Columbus and east of LaGrange. Atlanta's growth continues to push south toward Columbus because of the available land. This massive development will have 1,319 acres. The price of houses will range from the $180,000s to the $500,000s.

The development includes 78 acres for a town center with professional shops, businesses, a dedicated school site and land for such public services as fire/EMS and police substations. Thirty percent of the land also would be set aside for greenspace. Golf Carts will be a major focus of the development for residents to drive around. A movie theater and several restaurants are also planned for the development. The development is set to start construction in 6-8 months.

[ATLman1]

Meriwether Co. signs development deal with Greenbow

Goal for proposed park is to attract Kia supplier:

Meriwether County and Greenbow LLC have signed an agreement for a master plan of a 300-acre tract Greenbow is donating to the county for commercial and industrial development.

Luring suppliers

A primary goal for the business/industry park and two other similar parks in Greenville and Manchester is to attract a Kia Motors Corp. supplier to at least one of the parks. The tract near the interstate, Meriwether Park, is 26.5 miles from the West Point site where a Kia plant is under construction.

Greenbow will build roads in the new park off Georgia Highway 54 and I-85.

Negotiations are under way to secure water and sewer services from the nearby town of Hogansville. Hiss said he hopes an agreement can be reached by the end of this year. But Hogansville will need to expand its water and sewer facilities to handle this project and future growth needs in the city and at the new park.

Greenbow also is committed to putting up a 100,000-square-foot building to try to attract an industrial customer to its portion of the Manchester Park property.

[DaltonGA]

I hate to see Meriwether lose its small town and rural area character. So far the growth is slow and steady, but overflow from Coweta may result in northern Meriwether becoming more suburban in the next few years. Each of the towns in Meriwether have their own identity, Manchester is Meriwether's "big town", Warm Springs has the antique shops downtown, nearby Little White House and the springs, Greenville is the county seat, and there are sizeable communities in Woodbury, Luthersville and Gay. I always thought some Columbus suburbanization would follow 27-A through Harris County into Manchester and Warm Springs before Atlanta would begin encroaching. The Manchester Expressway has never turned into a growth magnet for northeast Columbus-Muscogee, Waverly Hall, Talbot County or Manchester. Another bright side is there is still alot of land in Meriwether, Harris, south Coweta, and south Fayette that even with increasing growth, dense urbanity is a long way off. Meriwether would have to grow considerably to resemble what is considered suburban. I never thought I would see metro Atlanta cover 28 counties, I thought there was plenty of room in the 18 counties designated in 1980 and the 20 counties that were included in 1990. Meriwether, Pike, Lamar and Heard were the ones that surprised me the most. I guess Jasper and Morgan will be the next rural areas to join metro Atlanta.