July 30, 2004
Plans for a major development comparable to Godley Station in Pooler were approved this week by the Effingham County Planning Board despite some residents’ concerns about traffic and other issues. Two 18-hole golf courses, 500 single-family houses, 500 multi-family housing units, commercial tracts and acreage for churches, parks and two schools are included in the plans for the 3,168 acres owned by International Paper Realty. “When completed, this development will be generating about $8 million in new property taxes and $2.2 million in sales tax,” said Bill Christian, a planning consultant from Raleigh, N.C. “The light industrial tracts included in the original plans have been eliminated, but the commercial tracts are about the same - 23 acres.”
Several residents at the planning board meeting voiced concerns about issues ranging from increased traffic to rising taxes and the environment.
“The people who have lived here for years will have to pay for services for the new residents,” complained Preston Grovenstein, one of five residents who spoke against the development.
Resident Dusty Zeigler added, “There are school buses and bus stops on the roads in this area where heavy equipment will be coming in and out ... I am also concerned about fish kills in the creeks in the area due to water runoff and fertilizer runoff.”
The development is just west of Rincon on land used as a forestry research tree farm for decades by International Paper, formerly Union Camp. Nearly all of the acreage is between Hodgeville Road and McCall Road near Rincon’s city limits.
Source: Savannah Morning News
July 25, 2006
In the coming weeks, federal agriculture officials could declare parts of Georgia natural disaster areas because of drought.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s aides said he is waiting for damage reports to be finished before sending a request to Washington for the declaration.
The assessments are being made at farms across the state to see which counties would fall under the disaster status because of crop losses. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said he thinks most of the state will qualify under the disaster declaration.
In Effingham County, corn, hay and soybean crops already have been affected by the dry conditions, according to local agriculture officials.
“We’ve had some rain in spots, but we’ve yet to get any substantial rain,” said Bill Tyson, extension agent for Effingham County, which has about 200 farms according to the most recent agriculture census. “It’s been these high temperatures that’s really been giving us the problem — excessively high temperatures.”
Tyson said farmers also are dealing with higher diesel and gasoline prices this year as well as increased bills for fertilizer, which tend to rise when petroleum costs go up.
“Input costs are just continuing to increase,” he said. “Then you put the dry conditions and driving the yield down — you’re effectively getting squeezed on both ends.”
Source: Savannah Morning News
July 26, 2006
After more than a month without a chief executive, the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority has named John Henry its new CEO. The IDA board voted at its July 20 meeting to extend the offer. Henry accepted Monday. Henry has served as project manager for the IDA for the past 14 months.
Source: Savannah Morning News
July 22, 2002
In a quick turn of events Friday, suspended Effingham County Sheriff Jay Space pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and resigned his post. Arrested on five felony charges on July 10, Space entered the plea in return for four years probation before Superior Court Judge John Robert Turner. Space likely will have to serve only two years of the probation, his defense attorney said. Sentenced under the First Offender Act, Space’s record will show no conviction at the completion of his sentence. Later Friday, Space submitted his resignation, and Jimmy McDuffie, a former Effingham County sheriff’s employee for 13 years, was appointed interim sheriff. Space was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996 but didn’t disclose it until last year.