Zane Brock said he and his neighbors have been waiting to sell their property for a couple of years now. He said it’s been frustrating being told he couldn’t do what he wanted with his own property. “I was being told that I could not sell my property, make a profit and move,” Brock said. “This is America.”But now, that’s all changing. Thursday, despite some public pushback, the Savannah city council unanimously approved to change more than fifty acres of residential land to light industrial land off Buckhalter Road. While homeowners, like Brock, wanted to sell, some were pleased with the decision, others were not. To compromise, the city required developers to install a 100-foot buffer on both the north and east border of the rezone site. This is the largest buffer zone the city has ever approved. The homeowners WJCL 22 talked to Thursday said the compromise was more than fair. However, they said although they are relieved with the decision, they said it doesn’t feel like a victory. “It feels like we’ve crossed the line at the marathon, but we hadn’t made it to the podium yet,” Brock said. That’s because even though the council approved the rezoning doesn’t mean sellers will see their property closing anytime soon. Developers buying the homeowners’ properties need to wait for their investors’ funding before closing, according to Brock. He said that’s made finding a new house to buy difficult.”Because of the deep recession that we’re in, there’s just not enough housing. So rather than buy, we might possibly wind up having to rent,” Brock said. Brock said developers told them closing could take up to a year. For more information on the Buckhalter rezoning, you can find these previous WJCL 22 reported stories. Port of Savannah groundbreaking of over 550-acre site (wjcl.com) Savannah: Neighbors call for action as major development moves in (wjcl.com
SAVANNAH, Ga. —
Zane Brock said he and his neighbors have been waiting to sell their property for a couple of years now. He said it’s been frustrating being told he couldn’t do what he wanted with his own property.
“I was being told that I could not sell my property, make a profit and move,” Brock said. “This is America.”
But now, that’s all changing.
Thursday, despite some public pushback, the Savannah city council unanimously approved to change more than fifty acres of residential land to light industrial land off Buckhalter Road.
While homeowners, like Brock, wanted to sell, some were pleased with the decision, others were not. To compromise, the city required developers to install a 100-foot buffer on both the north and east border of the rezone site. This is the largest buffer zone the city has ever approved.
The homeowners WJCL 22 talked to Thursday said the compromise was more than fair. However, they said although they are relieved with the decision, they said it doesn’t feel like a victory.
“It feels like we’ve crossed the line at the marathon, but we hadn’t made it to the podium yet,” Brock said.
That’s because even though the council approved the rezoning doesn’t mean sellers will see their property closing anytime soon. Developers buying the homeowners’ properties need to wait for their investors’ funding before closing, according to Brock.
He said that’s made finding a new house to buy difficult.
“Because of the deep recession that we’re in, there’s just not enough housing. So rather than buy, we might possibly wind up having to rent,” Brock said.
Brock said developers told them closing could take up to a year.
For more information on the Buckhalter rezoning, you can find these previous WJCL 22 reported stories.