Statham approves rezoning, annexation

The Statham City Council on Tuesday night gave a Canadian-based land banking company the annexation and zoning approvals to allow a future developer to one day build up to 2.5 million square feet of non-residential uses within a 360-acre Planned Unit Development along Highway 316. The council voted unanimously to annex into the city 218 acres that stretch past Wall Road and Elder Road into Barrow County. The panel also voted unanimously to rezone the entire development as a PUD.
The zoning is tied to a concept plan with conditions that allow up to 600 multi-family housing units and up to 2.5 million square feet of retail, industrial or office uses. The applicant was Walton Development & Management (USA) Inc., which has a small office in Roswell and is part of the Canadian-based Walton group of companies. Walton International Group Inc. is primarily a land-banking firm that since the collapse of the real estate market has purchased and syndicated to investors more than 46,000 acres of undeveloped land in the United States.
The company and its subsidiaries now own about 6,600 acres at 17 Georgia sites. Four of them, comprised of more than 900 acres, are in Barrow County. The company already has syndicated to foreign investors the Statham properties and has no current plans to actually develop the PUD site, according to company representatives.
For the full story, read the Nov. 28 edition of the Barrow Journal.