Future Land Use Update

The City of Locust Grove has undergone tremendous growth since 2000, adding over 8 square miles of land area into the city limits through an aggressive annexation policy. In addition, the city constructed a major wastewater treatment facility along Indian Creek at the Butts County line. This major facility opened up a large area of the southern portion of Henry County for more intense development of commercial and residential land use.

Figure 1. Growth in city limits since 2000. Area in orange shows new territory added into the city. Area in magenta is the old 2000 Census Boundary for the City of Locust Grove.

Revisions to Population, Employment, and Housing Needs

The city recently completed a study for the implementation of Development Impact Fees. As part of this process, the Methodology Report showed a tremendous increase in the population, housing units, and employment within the city between now and 2025.

Table F-2 of Impact Fee Methodology Report Showing Expected Population Growth

From the data, the total expected population in 2025 is 39,177, which parallels the expected increase by the city based on recent rezoning activity for all types of residential uses since 2000.

Table F-3 of Impact Fee Methodology Report Showing Expected Increase in Housing Units

Table F-3 shows the expected increase in the number of housing units between now and 2025. Using a declining household size that is typically expected over a long period of growth and development of a city, the number of dwelling units is estimated at 15,380 by 2025. This is a marked increase of slightly more than 1,100 units reported in the 2000 Census. Given that the predominant zoning has been for a medium-density zoning, the typical lot size is 10,000 square feet, meaning that by 2025 an additional 3,374 acres of land will be needed to accommodate the additional dwelling units. Residential will be the dominant land use at the end of the planning horizon.

Table F-5 from Impact Fee Methodology Report Showing Expected Increase in Employment

Table F-5 shows the expected increase in employment between now and 2025. Using the estimate of 500 square feet per employee in the Methodology Report, a total of 9,458,000 square feet of commercial space will be needed. Given that the typical FAR is 0.25, the total amount of additional acreage needed is 870 acres by 2025.

Existing Land Use

 From the needs listed above, the next step is to examine the current land use of the city. In 2000, the city limits encompassed only 2.1 square miles. As of May of this year, the city has grown to over 6,456 acres or 10.1 square miles. Table 1 below shows the breakdown of existing land use.

The largest portion of the city is being used for Agriculture and or Timber Harvesting, with the next largest portion of the city used for residential. This is a rather strange pattern for a city; however, this is mainly due to large areas annexed since 2000 that are still undeveloped at this point. It is expected that the residential component will be the largest land use in the city by 2025.

For residential, the breakdown in intensity of use is as follows:

• Lower-density single family comprises 53.5% of residentially-used land. Low-density here is less than 2 units per net acre.
• Medium-density single-family developments comprise 38.8% of residential property, confined mostly to the Skyland Manufactured Home Park and some of the newer residential developments since 2002. This class of residential consists of 2 to 4 units per net acre.
• High-density residential consists of 7.7% of the residential land use. This is all residential over 4 units per net acre. There are no apartments currently in the city, with this type of residential confined to detached, cluster-types of single-family residential.

Commercial land use is broken into classes as well:

• Regional Commercial, the area near the I-75 interchange that serves a trade area larger than the city or county as a whole and consists of the Tanger Outlet Center. This class consists of over 68.5% of the total commercial land use of the city.
• Neighborhood Commercial, those areas that serve convenience goods nearer to residential areas or near major industrial areas. This class consists of 4.6% of the commercial land use.
• Service Commercial, those types of commercial and quasi-industrial activities that require outdoor storage of equipment and/or material. This class accounts for 16.3% of the total commercial land use of the city.
• Central Business District, the area of the downtown core that has a mixture of mainly commercial uses. This comprises the remainder (0.9%) of the commercial land use within the city.

The remainder of the city land is used for parks and open space, transportation / communications / utilities, and public / institutional purposes.

Future Land Use Policy

The 2025 Future Land Use Policy relies on the commercial center concept in defining distinct areas for the location of appropriate-scale commercial and/or industrial activities. Residential and areas for mixed use are also provided for to allow for more traditional-scale development and to provide for areas with a mixture of land uses.

Residential

• Low-Density Single-Family at densities below 2 units per acre. These areas are primarily in areas without public sewer or in watershed protection areas on the east and western edges of the city.
• Medium-Density Single-Family at densities between 2 to 4 units per acre. These areas are within public sewer and lie primarily outside of environmentally-sensitive areas on the south side of the city.
• High-Density residential at densities over 4 units per acre. These areas are found near the central core of the city and along Tanger Boulevard. These types of uses may be integrated within appropriate commercial/office development in the Mixed-Use categories listed below.

Commercial

• Office/professional. These are limited to the mixed-use areas of the city shown below and are along the edges of the downtown core.
• Neighborhood Commercial. These serve primarily local convenience needs and are placed at appropriate intervals, mainly along Tanger Boulevard and one area on the eastern side of the city. The largest tenant may be no larger than 35,000 square feet. These centers are rarely larger than 100,000 square feet in leasable area.
• Community Commercial. There is one community-scale commercial center at the intersection of Tanger Boulevard and Highway 42 South. This center serves a trade area of at least 25,000 and mainly consists of grocery stores and other anchor tenants less than 70,000 square feet in size. These centers are typically no larger than 300,000 square feet in leasable area.
• Regional Commercial. The area at the I-75 Interchange at Bill Gardner Parkway. There is no limit to the largest tenant/anchor or largest center size. These areas serve a trade population of 100,000 or more and typically provide services for the traveling public.
• Service Commercial. There are two areas for service commercial in the city: along the northern edge of the city and at the southern edge at the Butts County line. These centers are located within or near industrial land uses and should be the concentration of uses that require a lot of outdoor storage or display of equipment and/or bulk materials. Certain neighborhood commercial activities are encouraged to provide nearby convenience needs to these employment centers.
• Industrial
• Parks and Open Space
• Transportation/Communications/Utilities
• Public and Institutional
• Mixed-Use
• Mixed Historic Neighborhood. This area is primarily east of the railroad along SR 42 and along areas SW of the central business district. This area is reserved for the preservation of the existing historic buildings that may be transformed into professional offices or personal services establishments. The main focus is along the Jackson Street Corridor and may have areas for higher-density residential uses. All existing structures should be preserved, and all new construction should be of similar architectural style.
• Mixed Use Neighborhood. There are two areas reserved for Greenfield TND-type of development to incorporate commercial and higher-density residential near the Regional Commercial Center east of the I-75 interchange.
• Central Business District. This is the existing central core and is projected to expand over time westward towards France Ward Drive. Most any use is permitted in this area under strict development standards to limit the maximum building envelope. It is anticipated that most loft apartments and condominium development in the city will occur in this area.
• Mixed Use District. This is the area along I-75 between Bill Gardner Parkway and Bethlehem Church Road. This area should primarily be a mixture of commercial, office, or industrial uses where appropriate. Of special interest is the development of a medical office campus that is not a new hospital but a complex of specialists in a park-like setting to compliment the nearby hospital facilities in Jackson, Griffin, and Stockbridge-Eagles Landing.

Future Land Use Allocation

Residential Demand for Land. Projections from population show a need for an additional 3,374 acres of land for residential needs. The future land use map shows an addition of 1,500 acres of purely residential land, meaning that additional units must be comprised in higher densities, as part of mixed use development, or a combination of both.

Commercial / Industrial Demand for Land. Accounting for the number of new employment, there was a need for an additional 870 acres. With adjustment for efficiency of land use and market choice (15%), the gross land area needed is 1,000 acres. The future land use map adds only an additional 526 acres of segregated commercial or industrial land. Thus, the addition of 824 acres must accommodate both the anticipated need for residential and employment demand.

Other Land Use Demand. It is anticipated that most all of the property within the existing city limits will be utilized for some type of land use other than agriculture or timber harvesting. Thus, the amount of remaining agriculture land is estimated at zero or some negligible amount. There is a tremendous growth in the allocation of land for transportation, communications, and utilities. This is due mainly to the need to construct streets within the various land use categories along with the need for new transportation corridors as the overall area grows. In addition, there is a marked increase in the amount of open space; however, this is mainly due to existing ordinances protecting areas along major streams and in buffers between residential areas that are subject to conservation residential overlay.

Implementation

Implementation of the land use policy will be performed through the use of zoning and development regulation along with the timely construction of infrastructure to serve the necessary transition of land.

The City of Locust Grove is to take over all zoning and development functions under the Service Delivery Strategy Agreement (SDSA) of 2005 by July 1, 2005. As part of this assumption of services, the city is preparing an interim zoning ordinance and subdivision code.

Under the SDSA, the city and county are to work together on the preparation of a new joint comprehensive plan. Preparations are underway for this work to begin by the end of 2005. Prior to completion of that plan, the city will begin a major revision to its codes in a similar fashion as Henry County in the development of a Unified Land Development Code (ULDC). The ULDC will be a more effective tool to accommodate this Future Land Use Policy. The City anticipates adoption of this code by 2007.