Could we finally see construction on New Hampstead?

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

The city screwed themsleves by annexing all that land and creating a labirynthian city limits. Pooler, Port Wentworh and Garden City have done the similar but none is as bizarrely far-flung as Savannah. Of course none of this would be an issue if we still had a consolidated police force.

Hello -- "the city" had no choice. Since 1980, the City of Savannah has had to annex land tracts only. Any inhabited stretches would be vetoed by... guess who! Chatham County, in collusion with nearby municipalities. Yes, all these city/town limits are indeed "labyrinthine," "bizarrely far-flung," or worse. But ever since the horse-trading that led to the last (1978) Savannah annexation of the "inhabited" southside (just one example: the 1978 referendum included the southeastern portion only, few southwestern areas where many county honchos lived), it has been impossible for the City of Savannah to annex subdivisions where people actually live. Pooler can -- it has allies in the county government. Hope that clears it up.

[GA Survivor]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

Hello -- "the city" had no choice. Since 1980, the City of Savannah has had to annex land tracts only. Any inhabited stretches would be vetoed by... guess who! Chatham County, in collusion with nearby municipalities. Yes, all these city/town limits are indeed "labyrinthine," "bizarrely far-flung," or worse. But ever since the horse-trading that led to the last (1978) Savannah annexation of the "inhabited" southside (just one example: the 1978 referendum included the southeastern portion only, few southwestern areas where many county honchos lived), it has been impossible for the City of Savannah to annex subdivisions where people actually live. Pooler can -- it has allies in the county government. Hope that clears it up.

Chatham County doesn't get to deny an annexation into any municipality. The 100% method - 100% percent of the property owners in the requested area, petition and then the city council decides. This is how those large areas have been annexed. 60% method - 60% of property owners and 60% of the residents of an area request annexation. Then after public hearings an ordinance can be adopted to annex if the city wants to. Resolution & Referendum - this requires the city and county agreement, then a referendum of those to be annexed.

These are the main ways, nowhere does it say Chatham and the others can collude to stop it.

Consolidation is a whole other animal. This is when the others and the county can stop it. If Savannah is so wonderful, all any county residents have to do is get together, create a petition and request annexation, it solves the collusion issue of the vilified evil emperor of small cities and big brother Chatham.

I would venture to say if Savannah was a well run efficient city, there wouldn't be any issue with everyone wanting to be part of the greater good and either annex in or consolidate. The problem is there is NO well run local government in the great state of Chatham and we are now headed to adding two more governments to the mess. Eventually the rest of unincorporated Chatham will request annexation into the current cities and Chatham government will fade away and we will have a bunch of city government that are angry and disgruntled with the fact that Savannah controls the water and they all has to kiss their butt to obtain water at astronomical rates. The two interesting annexations will be where does Southbridge and Georgetown go?

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by GA Survivor

Chatham County doesn't get to deny an annexation into any municipality. The 100% method - 100% percent of the property owners in the requested area, petition and then the city council decides. This is how those large areas have been annexed. 60% method - 60% of property owners and 60% of the residents of an area request annexation. Then after public hearings an ordinance can be adopted to annex if the city wants to. Resolution & Referendum - this requires the city and county agreement, then a referendum of those to be annexed.

These are the main ways, nowhere does it say Chatham and the others can collude to stop it.

Consolidation is a whole other animal. This is when the others and the county can stop it. If Savannah is so wonderful, all any county residents have to do is get together, create a petition and request annexation, it solves the collusion issue of the vilified evil emperor of small cities and big brother Chatham.

I would venture to say if Savannah was a well run efficient city, there wouldn't be any issue with everyone wanting to be part of the greater good and either annex in or consolidate. The problem is there is NO well run local government in the great state of Chatham and we are now headed to adding two more governments to the mess. Eventually the rest of unincorporated Chatham will request annexation into the current cities and Chatham government will fade away and we will have a bunch of city government that are angry and disgruntled with the fact that Savannah controls the water and they all has to kiss their butt to obtain water at astronomical rates. The two interesting annexations will be where does Southbridge and Georgetown go?

Corrrection: "the county doesn't get to officially deny annexation to any municipality." But that's exactly what Chatham has done behind closed doors. For the 60% rule, you're obviousy talking about land tracts where few people live, and those few who do would like city services. For populated areas, few want to be annexed by a large city, ever. That didn't happen in 1978 either.

I do get the rest of your post ("if Savannah were a well run efficient city") -- that's certainly not a statement I'd dispute now, but poor government wasn't the case over the entire 20th-century Savannah mayors and councilmen and -women. The larger problem is simple: majority-white Chatham County and small municipalities have been allies -- and adversaries of majority-black Savannah -- for decades.

[SavannahLife]

"From what I gather, 863 acres that were previously scheduled to be developed were placed into a conservation trust under the control of the North American Land Trust." - lovely to hear.
As to w Chatham looking like Pooler, hopefully not. Nice to see Bloomingdale will still keep its character for now. I wonder if they will try to retain trees there in New Hampstead. Maybe they will since it is in Savannah which is hopeful, vs Pooler.