The Putnam County Commission held its second of two regularly scheduled monthly meetings last Tuesday, preceded by a second, special Town Hall-style meeting to address public concerns about what has become known as “The Goodwill Project,” proposed for alongside Harmony Road on the eastern edge of the county at Lake Oconee.
The 71 acres of land involved currently belong to Goodwill of Middle Georgia.
Represented by Jim Stiff, who said 52 acres would be sold to Southeastern Development Associates in Augusta, with 18 acres reserved for Edgar’s Acres Village (named after Goodwill founder Edgar Helms), envisioned as “an agritourism-themed campus” to include farm buildings and fields, a farmer’s market-style event space, a Goodwill career center, Edgar’s Bakehouse Café, and “a Goodwill store like you’ve never seen before."
If ultimately approved and built, the officially named Helms Farm development will include 279 total units, providing a minimum 20-foot buffer between each of them in accordance with local fire marshal dictates, Southeastern Executive Vice President Matt Mills said at the meeting.
Mills added that of those 279 units, there would be at least 52 single-family houses for sale, and 196 units in a mixture of detached single-family town homes, paired homes (duplexes), and what he called “manor flats,” which contain four different units within a two-story platform.
“So, there are 196 long-term rentals, and then we have hotel cottages because of the hotel zoning that the property’s already entitled for, but instead of a hotel, we have 31 small cottages that are short-term rentals because the long-term rentals will be a year minimum,” Mills said.
“Everything we do is Class A,” he continued. “This is envisioning using Hardie board, using asphalt roofs and metal architectural shingles, and metal roofs and accents, and possibly some stone. But we’ll spend the extra money on the Hardie board versus vinyl so that we can have a color palette that matches the lake and matches what you’re accustomed to seeing in the nicer communities here.”
Mills said the for-sale homes will average between 2,500 and 3,000 square feet each with a conservatively estimated price point of about $250 per square foot, making them $625,000-plus each when new.
“So, these are not cheap houses. These are nice houses, which I think we can demand because of our proximity to the lake,” he said.
Regardless, at issue for many Putnam County residents remains Southeastern’s request for a 20to 24-year tax abatement, depending on when you start counting, that could add up to $8 million or more by term’s end. Mills is well aware of the opposition but insisted it’s not a cut-and-dried issue.
“The reality is, if it is approved, we will be making a payment in lieu of taxes,” he said. “That means there’s a schedule of payments that we will have to pay each and every year. In year one, that starts at $127,000 a year paid to the [Putnam County] Development Authority, and then that rises over time. By year 20, it goes up to $210,000, so there is a payment in lieu of taxes. So instead of paying normal property taxes, we make this payment to the development authority.”
He added that Goodwill’s current store alongside Hwy. 44 in Putnam County currently pays about $175,000 annually in county taxes. Still, that amount is expected to increase to $300,000 or more annually once the new store, bakery, and other agritourism features are operating.
Mills also said that using what he called “a conservative rental amount of $500 a night” and a 30-percent vacancy rate for the short-term rental properties within the project, he estimates annual rental income of $3.9 million, which would yield approximately $316,000 a year in hotel-motel tax for the county.
“And if the rates are higher, which I think they can be, that number goes up,” he continued. “Because I think $500 is conservative to rent a three-bedroom unit with access to the water.”
Goodwill currently pays approximately $15,000 a year to the county in property tax on the vacant acreage, Stiff said during the previous town hall meeting.
Regardless, opposition remained vocal to the tax abatement request, with several Putnam County residents questioning the need for a 20-year-plus term or wondering why nearby counties are not eager to enter similar deals with developers.
Other residents asked about what rental supervision and rules enforcement would be in place, how water and sewage services would be addressed, and even what process to follow in order to apply for tax abatement themselves.
At the conclusion of the hour-long town hall, County Commissioner Bill Sharp announced the next town hall on The Goodwill Project will begin at 5 p.m. on April 17 at the community association building in front of the Lake Oconee Lutheran Church.
“There will be a little more time for that meeting,” Sharp said. “It’ll be at least two hours.”