City of Statesboro to host meeting on Burkhalter Rd housing development Sept. 9

This is a press release.

The City of Statesboro will host a public information meeting on Monday, September 9, regarding a proposed 1,794-unit housing development on Burkhalter Road. The meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the Statesboro City Hall council chambers located at 50 E Main Street, Statesboro, and will allow the community to learn more and provide feedback on the “Burkhalter Village” development project being proposed by Blue Fern Development.

“Burkhalter Village is the first project of its kind and scale for Statesboro,” says City Manager Charles Penny. “As such, we’ve received a lot of questions from residents about the size of the development and its impact on infrastructure. In hosting this meeting, we hope to provide the community with more information about the proposed development timeline if the project was to be approved by the Mayor and City Council and what requirements the city would impose on the developer to address infrastructure impacts and other concerns.”

The public meeting comes after Statesboro’s City Council voted to postpone a public hearing for the Burkhalter Village development during its August 20 council meeting, citing the need for more time to review the plans and receive feedback from the public. On the agenda for that August 20 meeting was a request for the Burkhalter Village’s 714-acre property to be annexed into the city limits, a request for a variance from the City’s Unified Development Code to reduce the mixed-use concurrency requirement, and a request for a zoning map amendment from the R-40 Single-Family Residential Zoning District to the Planned Unit Development (PUD) Zoning District. The rescheduled public hearing will occur during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 17, at 5:30 p.m.

While the purpose of the public information meeting on September 9 is not to make a final determination on whether to approve the project, resident input is crucial to the Statesboro City Council’s decision-making process on this matter. To reinforce this desire for input, the city’s planning & development department mailed notices this week to residents of Burkhalter Road whose homes are adjacent to the proposed development to ensure that they were aware of the meeting and would have an opportunity to learn more if desired.

The meeting agenda will include presentations from city staff regarding the Burkhalter Village project proposal, an explanation of the state of Georgia’s annexation process and the city’s rezoning process, a summary of the city’s Planned Unit Development process for approval, and a review of the regional impact analysis conducted by Coastal Regional Commission earlier this year.

During the meeting, community members will have the opportunity to share input and ask questions of city staff. All members of the public are invited to attend.