Spalding County denies impact-fee waiver request for Defacs facility in Griffin

The Spalding County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 20 voted to deny an impact-fee waiver request for a proposed Defacs public-service facility in the City of Griffin.

County staff recommended denial, saying the county’s impact-fee ordinance does not provide a clear exemption for the kind of building proposed and that such facilities still create impacts on roads and emergency services. Douglas Chandler, attorney for the applicant, said the building would be owned first by a nonprofit and later by the state and “we're respectfully requesting that the impact fee be waived.”

Commissioners rejected the waiver, citing precedent and fairness to taxpayers. One commissioner referenced a prior waiver request from Wellstar Spalding for a hospital expansion and said the county had refused that waiver. Another commissioner warned that allowing waivers for service-providing buildings would create a “bad precedent” and would be unfair to residents who have paid for county infrastructure through taxes.

Chairman Bryant called the voice vote after a motion to deny; the motion carried and the board declined the waiver.

The denial leaves the applicant responsible for the impact-fee estimate produced by staff and preserves the county’s existing fee practice for future development requests.

A meeting staff report and the applicant’s written waiver request were entered into the record during the hearing but no new mitigation or alternative fee arrangements were approved at the meeting.