ACCG County Spotlight: Warren County, Georgia

News / Data / Publications › Georgia County Government Magazine › Magazine: August 2007 - Added 8/13/2007 9:19:20 AM

County Spotlight: Warren County

Georgia remains a state in the throes of prolific growth. However, at a time when many parts of the state are buckling to meet the demands of encroaching metro sprawl and rural regions scramble to build infrastructure for new residents and industries, Warren County appears to be something of a safe haven. Officials in the favorably-situated east Georgia jurisdiction, a stone’s throw south of I-20 east, 40 miles west of Augusta, are seeing growth, too. But they’re seeing it at an enviably comfortable pace.

A drive through the placid environs reveals small- and mid-sized dairy farms and wide-open pasturelands that haven’t much changed since the county seat of Warrenton’s days as a “mule town” where travelers stopped for carriages to a train station in Camak. The region’s implacable tranquility conveys the impression that here, just maybe, is one Georgia community offering the “real deal” authentic rural character that other counties can only hope to hold onto the kind not as easily altered as in neighboring jurisdictions where brand new, multi-use subdivisions and their hyperactive sales teams are luring buyers from more frigid and expensive parts north or across the state line from Florida.

Warren County was Georgia’s 20th county, formed in 1793 from land reclaimed from English rule after the Revolutionary War. Warrenton was incorporated in 1798 and retains the look of a small, charming, post-revolution rural east Georgia village. With its understated Victorian architecture and Better Hometown regalia on display, convincing signs abound that the traditional way of life other rural communities are struggling to maintain, to any degree possible, remains here uncompromised. The other two municipalities, Camak and Norwood, are, respectively, a long-established railroad community and the site where Rural Free Delivery (RFD) mail was born.

What they have in common besides lying within the boundaries of Warren County is that all three are uncommonly hospitable to strangers: on the sidewalks, the locals stop you to make sure you have directions, or find out if you need them. And if someone you need to see is out of town, you can usually find this out from the same folks who gave you directions, as well as the day and the time when that individual is expected back. In short, here it’s more than an “old wife’s” tale that everybody knows everybody in a small town; the superlative graciousness is genuine.

Such character should never be lost, and a trip to Warren County or those remaining communities like it in Georgia opens the eyes quickly concerning what the state stands to lose in the face of rapid growth, if adequate zoning and land-use regulations are not put into place... if the welcome mat is laid out too eagerly for all and sundry to come in and develop rural counties by storm. Here, there’s still time to offset the virtual avalanche of change that unbridled growth and development would bring.
There’s determination, too. For all the seeming quietude and soft-spoken decorum of those who live in Warren County, including those elected to run it, there’s a lot going on.

County Chairman John Graham, elected at large in 2000, also functions as day-to-day county manager. His leadership capabilities stand on the rungs of having served in numerous capacities with local government, from county clerk to director of emergency services. The McDuffie County native is a longtime Emergency Management professional, certified paramedic and veteran volunteer firefighter, named the Georgia Emergency Management Association Citizen of the Year in 2001. Another hat he wears is noted conservationist, and Graham was also named Conservationist of the Year in 2004 by the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Backed by Terry Johnson and Richard Burley, Jr. on the three-member Warren County Board of Commissioners, Graham and his Board are credited with galvanizing the county’s involvement in meaningful regional initiatives and significant local improvements, including upgraded emergency communications, new recreation facilities and major water upgrades. Under Graham’s leadership the Board is also credited with facilitating major improvements to the county’s roads, which remain fundamental to economic vitality, including plans for a lucrative frontage road along I-20 east, backed by federal transportation monies and the state Department of Transportation (DOT).

Graham concedes that until now the jurisdiction has seen relatively slow growth, bucking the overall trend to develop east Georgia’s rural expanses into high-end golf communities. The deliberate pace of growth, he notes, is another advantage, having allowed for purposeful planning. “Developers are moving this way,” Graham allows. “We’ve seen it coming for a while, and this gave us an impetus to create our comprehensive land-use ordinance. We knew having comprehensive zoning and land-use regulations in place was crucial. And so we put in place the regulations we knew we’d need.” The Board implemented comprehensive zoning in January 2006. Of the 225 pages comprising the Warren County Land Use Ordinance, 56 pages cover subdivisions and the remainder, land-use regulations.

Development of the document was, as are many initiatives here, collaborative. “We appointed a 10-person committee of residents, including landowners, agriculture representatives, engineers and members of the real estate and development communities, along with senior citizens and local development authority members,” Graham says. “The committee worked under the guidance of consulting planning professional Jerry Weitz, an associate of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA).” Graham notes that an individual consultant was important for the county, allowing for the kind of personal one-on-one advantage he believes a small community needs with a consultant. The chairman explains, “We took the group and the consultant and developed the ordinances covering rural residential lots (five acres), and the suburban residential lots (one acre) permitted just outside the three municipalities of Warrenton, Norwood and Camak.” The process took an entire year, wrapping up in November/December 2005 with two public hearings to get community input.

“Some people were against zoning,” Graham recalls, largely fearful of ways in which their private property rights might be affected. He offers, “We educated the public, though. We showed them how these regulations could protect them and their property. We demonstrated how the regulations wouldn’t hurt anyone, unless they had 500 acres to subdivide in an irresponsible manner, that they would be protected from neighboring landowners doing something next to them that could hurt their property value.” He adds that the committee had ongoing dialogues with the public, every step of the way. The result is what they’d hoped, and then some.

“Our land-use plan allows developers to create conservation districts, too,” Graham asserts. “Out of a five-acre minimum building lot, for instance, a builder can opt to build on three acres and leave two acres undisturbed... earning that portion a designation as a ‘conservation district.’” Graham says the provision hopefully will give developers incentives not to clear cut, and to pay attention to residential and community greenspace needs.

Growth and Development
For the time being, as mentioned, growth remains manageable. “Our last census recorded a 4 percent growth rate, coming from the west and the east from the proximity of the Lake Oconee area and from the city of Augusta, respectively,” Graham asserts. “We’re seeing a certain type of new development, rustic in character, single-family communities designed around recreation opportunities... we think it’s unique in the region.” Graham concedes that the selling off of timberlands here, as in other parts of the state, has given developers impetus to build lower-cost communities than those in the metro region, and in Florida, both locations seeing a trend to “sell out” and move to a less expensive, less crowded rural area. What more perfect spot than a place like Warren County?

One such development of the newer ilk is a vacation or second-home community, Briar Rose, which calls for developers to transform the old “Come Away” plantation here into a residential community of rustic homes built around ponds, with recreational amenities like a sporting clays course. Cabin-style single-family homes are planned, along with a village complex housing club offices, dining establishments, equestrian facilities and parking. Developers out of metro Atlanta are building the community on 2,800 acres of what is now a hunting preserve for the traditional Georgia quarry of whitetail deer and quail. A fish camp is also planned, as well as an upscale restaurant. For this development, developers will install the necessary infrastructure, water, sewer, roads and broadband internet availability, much as they have tended to do exclusively in neighboring Greene County to accommodate private lake communities. But that’s not all. According to Graham, the Briar Rose developers are also investing in the community: a private donation of $250,000 is slated for the planned Warren County/Warrenton Recreation Complex, a current major initiative of the county, the city of Warrenton and the local school board.

Another developer is planning three more single-family residential communities in Warren County, Graham adds, with minimum of five-acre building lots. “It’s envisioned as a rural home community,” Graham explains. “The average home will be about 2,000 sq. ft., cost in the neighborhood of the mid-200s, and fit in with the surrounding rural environment in terms of architecture.”

The Progress of Joint Initiatives
Warren County government prides itself on being proactive with the county’s cities, Warrenton, Camak and Norwood, with progressive relationships among all, largely devoid of the “politics” seen at government’s higher echelons. Projects to improve roads, recreation, capital improvements and the like are jointly pursued and, if secured in Atlanta or in Washington, D.C., earmarked to serve the county and the city of Warrenton, as well as all county residents. Currently, there are big projects going on in Warren County, many of them grant-funded and/or supplemented by significant federal and state agency dollars.

Transportation
Road improvements are a primary element of partnership in the name of progress. The most exciting road improvement initiative here will be a frontage road planned along I-20’s south side from exits 160 through 165?a six-mile thoroughfare that could be a commercial bonanza for the county if, as hoped, it attracts significant commercial development. The frontage road is being funded by $9 million in federal TEA-LU transportation funds, secured by the joint efforts of the Warren County Board of Commissioners, working with District 12 Georgia Rep. John Barrow and Sen. Johnny Isakson, whose current legislative director happens to be a former Warren County resident. The county is currently working on a concept plan for the project with DOT, the agency through which all federal transportation monies flow to local governments.
Another recent project received $455,000 in federal transportation safety enhancement program grant funds through DOT, and another grant from federal monies, to fund the restriping of 80 percent of Warren County’s roads and install 100 percent new signage on all county roads, including railroad crossings, intersections and bridges. Work is slated to be finished this fall.

Yet another transportation grant from the Georgia DOT of $190,000 is slated to move the old East Warrenton Depot back to Warrenton from Augusta, to place beside the old Knox Theatre to house a new Welcome Center and Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Plans call for showing movies from yesteryear in the renovated theatre, as a tourist attraction. The renovated Depot will feature a board room, offices and an exhibit area showcasing local history displays, Graham said.

Unique Recreation Partnership
Another broad-scale initiative now in the works involving the county, the local school board and the city of Warrenton will result in long-needed significant recreation improvements for county residents. Plans for the much-anticipated Warren County/Warrenton Recreation Complex came about as local officials were holding discussions on ways to improve local recreation. “We wanted to use the old high school gym and surrounding land, and had talked to the University of Georgia about helping us develop a recreation complex. Using portions of the county’s old high school, we’re building a full-scale recreational complex, the Warrenton-Warren County Recreation Facility.” Plans, to be completed by April 2008, will incorporate walking trails, biking paths and ball fields around the gymnasium.
Part of the pact is to build, for the Board of Education, a new stadium with track at the new Warren County High School and Middle School. Graham indicates that the partnership took shape as the county and city were trying to plan a recreation complex, then invited the school board in on the talks. The school board expressed its desire for a new high school stadium, and in turn will allow the county and city to build the recreation complex on school board property. Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds are paying for additional recreation upgrades in the county, too, Graham said.

There are plenty of golfing opportunities here, too; residents have access to more than 20 outstanding public and private courses in and around the county. Professional sports in the region include local hockey, minor league baseball and arena football, traditional English-style fox hunting, four state parks and, proximal to the area, Lake Thurmond, with 1,200 miles of shoreline as well as Georgia’s own Lake Oconee in Greene County just a short drive west, with the amenities of Reynolds Plantation and the Ritz-Carlton.

Communications Improvements
A $30,000 grant in recent years enabled broad improvements to radio communications, a major improvement for emergency management and medical services, which Graham had long advocated. “We put in two communications towers to boost radio communications for fire emergencies, emergency medical services and to facilitate the sheriff’s department communications,” the chairman says. Now, county-wide E-911 is a joint service between Warrenton and the county and includes 24-hour advanced life-support services provided by EMS. Graham had tried to implement countywide E-911 as director of Emergency Services and now it’s clear he’s proud of this accomplishment.

The system is available to all county law enforcement agencies. The Sheriff’s Department, employing four deputies, serves and protects all of unincorporated Warren County, including incorporated cities Norwood and Camak. The Warrenton Police Department serves the City of Warrenton and has a centralized center to dispatch emergency services countywide.

Fire protection also benefits. The county’s volunteer Fire Department currently has 21 volunteer personnel, providing emergency medical first-responder services, hazardous material response, rescue and safety education and fire-cause investigation.

Water System Expansions
While officials say they have service delivery under control now, Graham asserts the county is looking at ways to further expand water and sewer services. “We’re looking at this with the city of Warrenton, hoping to work together on it,” he says. Progress has ensued in this vein too, however, thanks to voter renewal of a 2002 1 percent SPLOST, slated to fund recreation, road and bridge improvements, and water and sewer upgrades. More extensions of water lines resulted from a joint local agreement with McDuffie County, from which Warren County purchases water (McDuffie pumps its water supply from Clarks Hill Lake). There are now 20 miles of new water lines extending to the central and east parts of the county.

Water and wastewater services are supplied by the City of Warrenton and managed by the city, maintaining two oxidation ponds and four water storage tanks. Warren County has experienced no water shortages during droughts, and its abundant supply from large local reservoirs largely insulates county residents from the effects of prolonged drought. “With water system upgrades we have put in, our ISO rating will be revised,” Graham notes. “(It’s) expected to drop from a rating of nine to five, six and seven.”

On the solid waste front, Warren County also has an agreement in place with McDuffie County for disposal of solid waste from green box sites that will soon include recycling. “We want to implement curbside garbage pickup for all residents, but not in the immediate future,” Graham adds.

Economic Development Initiatives
Graham points out that business development efforts here include trying to retain the community’s rural character while being “business friendly” and especially appealing to the technology sector. With a recent joint OneGeorgia broadband grant award of $80,000 with the Clarksville Partnership, Graham says the counties are studying “how we can bolster broadband use in Warren County and the region.”

There is a well-established business outreach effort here, in addition. Espousing “values and vision” as the hallmarks of the community, the Warren County Chamber of Commerce, currently led by Executive Director O.B. McCorkle, promotes the community’s perennial rural appeal and its proximity to metropolitan areas like Augusta and metro Atlanta, including Hartsfield International Airport. “We’re a growing community and always looking for ways to work with companies, new or already settled here, to improve the quality of life,” McCorkle points out. It helps that neighboring counties are all mutually supportive of economic development and community development goals.

The Clarks Hill Partnership of Georgia, formed in October 2005, is a regional economic development initiative that came about as former Georgia Sen. Jim Whitehead of Columbia County began talking with county commissioners in the region about a regional initiative to promote growth. There were less comprehensive agreements in place between Warren and McDuffie counties already so, Graham explains, it was a natural move to promote the counties in the region surrounding Clarks Hill Lake together. Developing incentives to retain existing industry, recruit new and expanded industries while also promoting residential development and new residents in the Clarks Hill region are the main objectives of the Partnership, which joins Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Warren and Wilkes counties in a broad, unified initiative. The Partnership focuses on economic prospects, tourism, industrial development, transportation, airport facilities, infrastructure and other services based on mutual covenants among the five counties, through December 2010.

Steering the initiative are two individuals from each county, chosen by each county’s Board of Commissioners for defined terms of service. With officers serving one-year terms, the group meets regularly to determine funding and create mutually agreeable policy for joint economic, tourism, recreation, industrial and other projects.

The Warren County Chamber of Commerce and county Development Authority also work closely with the Warrenton Downtown Development Authority and Hometown Warrenton Inc. on a number of commercial promotion projects, including marketing of a former Zorlu manufacturing facility and the location of Amcor Inc. In 2006, the “team” completed the county’s first fully served industrial park, marketing sites to several companies in tandem with the county and the Development Authority.

In the past two years the Chamber has worked with Warren County and the Downtown Development Authority to successfully secure funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation and the state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to improve Warrenton’s streetscape surrounding the newly relocated from Augusta, and renovated, East Warrenton Depot, set to become headquarters for the Chamber of Commerce, Development Authority, Downtown Development Authority and Better Hometown offices, as well as a welcome center and history museum.

The Chamber also takes an active role in community life and special events, conducting “first Saturday” activities to promote local businesses. Themes make these events locally popular and a draw for tourists. The City Sidewalk Sale, Christmas in July, Motorcycle Poker Run, Art on Main, Cycle Tour for Bicyclers, a 5K Fun Run and Shopping Extravaganza give people a reason to pour into the streets of Warrenton.
Other local events include Concert in the Park from April through the summer months, in conjunction with Hometown Warrenton; the Railroad Days Festival in April with the City of Canak; the Charity Skins Golf Tournament each April, sponsored by local businesses and local citizens; the Farm City Tour every November with the Warren County Extension Service and Farm Bureau; the Warren County Sportsman’s Festival in downtown Warrenton also in November; and the Warrenton Hometown Christmas in December, with Hometown Warrenton.

In the past couple of years, other progress fostered by the Chamber and Development Authority include having Georgia Hwy. 16 from Jewell to Warrenton designated as an extension of the Historic Piedmont Scenic Byway, raising funds for the Veterans Memorial Park on the Warren County Courthouse Square and awarding four façade grants to local businesses through Hometown Warrenton.

Industry and Business
As chronicled by the Warren County Development Authority, kaolin mining, foundry, textiles, agribusiness and metal fabrication are among the diverse industries represented here. The largest employers include manufacturers like Georgia Pacific Corp.’s rough pine lumber mill, and the Timberman Inc., a wood pallet manufacturer. Stone, clay and glass products are produced here by Martin Marietta Aggegates, Thiele Kaolin and J.M. Huber Corp. Jebco Inc. produces fabricated metal products in Warrenton. Amcor, which also operates a plant in McDuffie County, recently moved into the former Warloo USA facility in Warrenton.

Transportation companies CSX Railroad and UPS operate facilities in Camak and Warrenton, respectively. In the medical and health care field, local employers include a Medical and Rehabilitation Center and Tri-County Medical Center, both in Warrenton.

Plastic Tubing Industries of Georgia is slated to locate at Warren County Industrial Park in the near term, for which land was purchased in 2002 and water service and road work has been phased in. The company makes corrugated plastic pipe and is planning to expand by building a 15,000 sq. ft. building and two more buildings of the same size, plus a 2,500 sq. ft. office, to occupy 50 acres at the Industrial Park.
Companies locating in Warren County can avail themselves of Quick Start Worker Training programs in conjunction with Sandersville Technical College. Attractive to business also are the state and region’s low rates for industrial electricity and the support of Georgia’s integrated electrical transmission system; industries locating here also benefit from nearly immediate interstate access via Georgia Hwy. 278, I-20 and a fine network of supporting roads as well as access to a regional airport with a 5,000-ft. runway and an integrated landing strip (commercial air service is provided by Atlantic Southeast, Delta and U.S. Air Express in and out of Augusta), major rail service via CSX and Norfolk Southern; both have piggyback service at Atlanta.

(Georgia still has the southeast’s most extensive rail network.) Twenty-five motor freight carriers are also easily accessible from Warren County, via terminals in Augusta, Macon, Thomaston and Columbia and North Augusta, S.C.

Schools and Medical Facilities
Warren County has a recognized public school system, Graham asserts, which has been improved steadily over the past several years. The local elementary school has garnered recognition as a Georgia School of Excellence. As mentioned, a new consolidated High School and Middle School is now anticipating a new stadium, thanks to the ambitious recreation partnership between the local school board, the county and the city of Warrenton that will soon result, too, in the Warren County/Warrenton Recreation Complex.

Technical colleges in the area offering solid trade educational options include Sandersville Technical College, which works with Warren County High School on a dual-enrollment vocational training program; and the Thomson (McDuffie County) satellite of Augusta Technical College. Close to the county also are Augusta State College, the Medical College of Georgia, the University of Georgia in Athens, Paine College in Augusta and Emory University at Oxford, Georgia.

Major medical facilities are available at close range. Facilities in the immediate community include McDuffie County Regional Hospital, Warren County EMA, the Tri-County Family Medical Center, Warrenton Medical Center, Warren County Public Health Department, and Warren Health and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home. Within a 40-minute drive, there are five additional hospitals (1,915 beds), including the nationally recognized Medical College of Georgia, which is the state’s health science university.

Factors for the Future
Warren County, until now, has had the enviable luxury of putting ample plans in place to accommodate growth. However, the region’s dimming reliance on agriculture combined with the movement of developers eastward along I-20 in their quest to stake a claim in the region’s increasingly well-known “Sunbelt golf country” will ensure the county a fair share of Georgia’s continuing growth. All these factors, furthermore, combine to project a future for Warren County that’s in sharp contrast with its rural past.

County officials, by putting careful land-use regulations and meaningful service delivery alliances in place, have made investments that will pay off as growth steps up, and in effect, takes no one by surprise. Today, Warren County officials appear confident that incoming growth?whether it continues to “trickle” in slowly or ultimately resembles a tidal wave?will be of a high-quality and sustainable nature, not the kind that overtakes existing infrastructure, decimating in its wake the quiet way of life that thrives here.

Because it’s situated squarely in the path of east Georgia’s growing recreation and retirement community region, officials acknowledge the likelihood that Warren County will perhaps swiftly attract larger numbers of people than the current 6,300 who make their home here today, many former urban residents used to a wider array of county services, and will expect the same thing in rural east Georgia. Officials have well considered the prospect of such demands and are working on mutual agreements to deliver more services, while pursuing high-tech and other industries to bolster the commercial tax base. It’s a good bet that new residents, and new industries, will find the county not only an amiable and cost-effective place to settle, but one that can accommodate all
their needs.

’Til then, it also might be the best place we can think of to sit on a Victorian-era veranda, sip lemonade and watch time stand still. Just for now, Warren County looks like Georgia’s “most likely to succeed” in retaining its small-town ambience and the priceless rural character it has, on a par with the best in the South.