H = Hamilton

PM = Pine Mountain

WH = Waverly Hall

F = Fortson

WP = West Point

Official Harris County Government website: www.harriscountyga.gov

Government
 

Challenges

Location

DOT encourages county to build w/ limited setbacks

F

Not unified as a community

WH

Need long range plan for development

PM

Lack of consistent zoning; nothing to control growth

PM

Apathy in development (folks not involved)

PM

Impact fees (lack of)

F

Consider landscape ordinance

F

No county transportation system

H

Strip mall architecture

F

Clear-cut suburban development

F

Lack of grocery stores, quality restaurants, retail, etc.

PM

Zoning needs to be geared toward community, not developer

H

Tier 4 status

PM

Ability of emergency services to communication with one another

H

Lack of industry for children to come back to

H

Highways/road – not paved, not widened, etc.

H

Bedroom community apathy

F

City Council is unconcerned

PM

Difficult and cumbersome recycling

PM

Networking of officials (communication)

WP

Negative attitude of our city council

WH

County commissioners

PM

No unified county voice

PM

Higher standard for overall appearance (community pride)

H

High taxes – low services

WP

Give suggestions for architecture codes

F

Community / city segregation

F

Lack of growth of tax base

WH

Too heavily dependent upon residential tax base

H

Geographic size of county - spread out

H

Need improved elected officials

WP

Lack of commitment to planning (land use planning)

WP

Lack of green space plan

F

Need for impact fees

WH

Communication

F

Large county

F

HC 2020 Goals

Location

River from Atlanta clean!

PM

Reasonable tax rate

PM

Want to have at least 3 gravel roads left in the county

PM

Protect us from light pollution and noise pollution

PM

Responsive and responsible government

PM

Don’t want sprawl; want managed growth

PM

Good, clean industry to help tax base

PM

Building codes that keep community's architectural building guidelines

PM

Complete land use plan with stringent zoning controls

PM

Infrastructure that can handle growth

PM

Buy a striping machine and stripe roads

H

An appropriate business/restaurant balance

H

Linear Park along Mulberry Creek - protect wildlife

H

Need to decide what kind of industry we want and go after it

H

Need to support leaders who will give the people what they want

H

Manage population growth

PM

Adequate parking around the courthouse

H

Strong planning county-wide commission

WH

Citizens truly involved in city/county government

WH

Keep a low tax rate

WH

Don't become "solid city" want green space

WH

Unity

WH

Combine social services under couple of umbrellas

WH

Industry Not Wanted

Location

Textile industry

F

Casino / gambling

F

Prostitution

F

Natural habitat destroyers

F

Landfill

F

Union verses pro-business

F

Junkyard

F

Hazardous waste

F

Smoke stacks / air pollution

F

Large animals

F

Hog rendering

F

Agri-business (hog farms)

F

Noise pollution

F

Soil pollution

F

Industry Wanted

Location

State offices in county

H

One that would generate good tax base

H

Business that does not burden infrastructure and employs citizens

H

High paying jobs

H

Clean, non-polluting, non-human technical business (keep auto traffic down)

PM

High tech jobs

H

Communication companies

PM

Offices - low users of resources such as water and sewer

PM

Clean manufacturing

PM

Issues

Location

Better communication between gov't entities and consolidated planning

H

Consolidated government

PM

Planning decisions about what we want(work with county commissioners)

PM

Harris to continue growing leaders and champions

H

Policy makers with guts

PM

Communication among municipalities and the county

PM

Effective planning commission

PM

Need goals that can be measured

WP

We must be educated about what we’ve got

PM

Effective leadership

PM

Need to prioritize community needs and wants

H

Need one person to lead county (a champion)

PM

Use impact fees to provide services/control growth

WH

Bridge gap of pro-growth and anti-growth faction

WP

Lack of commitment to do things in community

WP

Strong elected leaders with more accountability and accessibility

H

Need to hire full-time engineer to guide and plan growth

WP

Accept fact that business is needed to support tax base and infrastructure

H

Educating public on what it takes to have a community they want

H

Financing

H

Need a long-range plan

H

Assess spending of city/county tax money

WH

Zoning and land use – enforced and unified

PM

Deal with lack of trust with neighbors and leaders

WH

Develop inclusive community-wide plan - determine means of implementing

H

Continuation of leadership

H

Protect

Location

Unreasonable taxation of citizens

WP

Strengths

Location

Responsive city council

WH

Good Leadership

H

Low unemployment rate

H

Low unemployment

WP

Leadership with vision

WH

Building code

WH

Low taxes

WH

County has had planning for a long time

H

Low cost of living

WH

Desire and interest to plan

WP

An ideal place to own a business

PM

Government that listens to us

WH

Harris County Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Post Office Box 426, 159 S. College Street

Hamilton, Georgia 31811
(706) 628-0010 or (888) 478-0010
E-mail: info@harriscountychamber.org
FAX: 706-628-4429