Commission approves rezoning for proposed Paulding Airport Aerospace Park

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend rezoning roughly 163 acres near Paulding County’s airport to an Advanced Manufacturing & Logistics (AML) district to position the site for aerospace and aviation-related investment.

Alex Almodovar, who identified himself as serving with Paulding County Economic Development and the Industrial Building Authority, said the county and partner authorities purchased the land to attract investment. He described work to obtain Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) certification and presented a conceptual layout showing as much as about 499,000 square feet of class-A industrial or manufacturing space. “From an economic development perspective, the airport is probably our biggest asset that we have in the county,” Almodovar said. He added the county expects the site to help generate “over 500 high-paying jobs,” while noting the plan shown is conceptual and final layouts will depend on future tenants.

Staff recommended approval with two stipulations; commissioners asked about ownership, environmental assessments and traffic-study timing. Almodovar said due-diligence studies, including environmental work, are underway and asked that the traffic study be allowed to run concurrently with development review so as not to slow prospective projects.

The commission voted 4-0 to recommend the rezoning; the decision will move to the Board of Commissioners on July 14 for final action.