By Barbara Augsdorfer, Editor for the Effingham Herald

Residents along Midland Road who expressed opposition to a proposed new home development at the April 4 meeting of the County Commissioners won a small victory at the May 2 meeting.

The final vote was postponed from April 4 because Commissioners Jamie DeLoach and Roger Burdette were absent. The public comments during the April 4 meeting lasted more than 90 minutes and before taking a final vote County Commission Chair Wesley Corbitt wanted to give DeLoach and Burdette a chance to comment regarding the issue. Corbitt had said the public comments on this issue were closed, but the commission would discuss the proposal prior to taking the final vote at the May 2 meeting.

“I want to proceed with bringing the Commissioner from that district up to speed with the discussions and they can comment,” Corbitt said. “And we're going to give the public a chance to respond to what they hear tonight.”

Corbitt summarized for the developer and the public that the parts of the project will still be addressed even without the housing development, such as:

• Water – meaning water supply, pressure, and sewer concerns
• Wetlands have to be delineated
• ·Flood concern that has to be investigated by FEMA
• ·Traffic concerns

Area resident Marty Seckinger addressed the commission again regarding traffic, the wetlands, and access.

“It has one entrance,” Seckinger said, “I think you're running into the same problem over there (like) Picket Fences in Rincon that has one entrance next to the railroad track. One entrance is not good in case something happens.” Seckinger added that one entrance would make it difficult for emergency vehicles to access the neighborhood.

Seckinger also reminded the commission about “the swamp” – he believes that the land is too wet, to which Corbitt told him the commission is aware of the wetlands issue and added, “We understand the issue. They cannot move that water any faster. We heard that concern. We need to address different concerns.”

Regarding the traffic concern, Corbitt said, “We've got things in place: nine roundabouts, a parkway, and in the area that you’re at (Midland Road) we're building new roads.”

The road construction was approved by voters with the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) referendum in 2020.

“It's a safe assumption that with any project like this, it's going to be three to five years to build out,” Corbitt said. He added that other improvements in the next few years include widening Hwy. 21 to six lanes. “Much of that is going to happen in the next three to five years.”

After the brief round of discussion and comments between the developers and the commissioners; and comments from the public in opposition, the commissioners voted down the proposal 3-2 with Burdette, DeLoach and Reggie Loper voting to deny the motion; Forrest Floyd and Phil Kieffer voting “no” to deny the motion.