Marcus Sack

President, M.E. Sack Engineering

The days of large lots and sprawling subdivisions are a thing of the past. Infill along existing roads may provide an opportunity for this in isolated, more rural areas without centralized water and sewer systems. However, for urban centers and high growth areas large lots and country living is over, and we did it to ourselves. We are trading white picket fences for grand planned development entrances. Younger generations overwhelmingly prefer densified developments infused with technology and sustainable features with low maintenance, smaller homes and lots.

The landscape of how we interact, socialize, exercise, communicate has changed considerably in the last decade. With AI well past infancy, it will continue to change how our communities develop and interact. Americans today don’t need acres to live and more importantly, the majority can’t afford it or don’t want it.

The answer to that is what many call “smart growth” and is what we are seeing transition in Liberty County. Smart growth is development that incorporates density over sprawl, mixed use over single use, communal or centralized open space over large yards, and homeowner associations over private property rights. Additionally, we want this growth to be near jobs or areas where job creation can occur. In a perfect world, we would create growth areas where this can occur in a compact, walkable development.

Many view density as developers fattening their own pockets. The reality is, development today is encumbered by clunky bureaucracy, permitting and costly environmental constraints that increase the cost of construction from zoning actions to the last coat of paint. Additionally, our self-imposed burdens increase the cost of everything. We drive larger, heavier cars. We produce more trash, needing larger, more frequent garbage trucks. We purchase more goods with more heavy Amazon trucks. Our kids require more bus routes. We have centralized water and sewer that require extensions of pipes that are required to carry more water and higher pressures to meet higher demands and regulatory requirements. As density increases, as does stormwater runoff requiring larger pipes and larger ponds. Requirements for positive drainage require more fill in neighborhoods. Couple this with higher impact fees and application fees, and the cost per square foot continually increases.

Municipalities in which the developments are constructed must provide services. These include water and sewer, storm water maintenance, fire protection, ambulance services, trash pickup, recreation and the list goes on. While we all want our children, friends and neighbors to afford these homes. Our tax money needs to be able to afford to provide the services they demand. As a result, the value of a home needs to be worth the cost to provide the service and be affordable to the American buyer at the same time. It is a complex and nuanced issue.

Density helps solve the issue. Having higher number of units along as short of road frontage as possible creates an opportunity to reduce the cost of housing AND the cost of services from the municipality. We need these developments with a mixture of duplexes, townhomes, apartments and a wide range of detached single- family styles. We need centralized open and recreation areas within these developments and the ability to have short commutes to work, to the grocery store and to a restaurant. Planning where the growth needs to occur and where job creation is going to be provides a blank canvas to paint smart, attainable growth.

In already developed suburban areas like the City of Hinesville, it is difficult to create central hubs that include live-work-play. The work is where it is and infill development is what is left. As the suburban area grows, more opportunities will occur where redevelopment takes place to swing the pendulum more toward a large, central planned area.

In less developed areas, we have more opportunities to achieve this success. One example of this is Laurel View properties. For decades, Tradeport East has been a planned development that was founded on the live, work, play principle. The development currently being planned adjacent to our well-planned and award-winning industrial park is exactly the smart growth we should invite to Liberty County. This development will create a central hub of commercial, residential and industrial opportunities adjacent to protected natural resources. A walkable or bikeable development that broadens our labor pool and can fuel our ability to attract more jobs in the areas that people live, a marriage of long-term planning and public private partnerships that works. The only problem now is that the growth will impact someone else a property owner nearby, people who already live there, a group of residents who, against all evidence to the contrary, claim improper planning, environmental nuisance, noise and traffic increases. A claim that governance and developers are in cahoots. A collective yell of “Not In My Back Yard.”

Yet, the benefit to the citizens is that through densified development, we are able to reduce costs and increase tax revenue in a smaller geographical area. We also decrease the out migration of spending by keeping dollars within the tax boundary because families live where they work. Having the employment pool near jobs feeds more job creation, leading to an uplift in household income. The plan works and the benefits grow over decades as each catalyst feeds the next opportunity. So, I say to Liberty Countians, be SMART and willing to accept change. Share a vision of opportunity and growth that inspires and lifts our region. Be nimble, not NIMBY.

Marcus Sack is a president of M.E. Sack Engineering and a member of the Liberty County Development Authority.