GlobeSt.com UPDATE: $10B Temple-Inland Project Passes First Hurdle

CARROLL COUNTY, GA-Temple-Inland Land and Timber of Douglasville, an affiliate of Austin, TX-based Temple-Inland Inc., has passed its first bureaucratic hurdle for its planned $10-billion, 11,000-acre mixed-use Wolf Creek community, 45 miles southwest of Downtown Atlanta.

The Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center has recommended the county's planning commission and board of county commissioners approve the project which would include 500 acres of office space; 500 acres of retail, restaurant and other commercial space; 19,000 homes; a conference center, a 2,500-acre public park; golf course; and a town center.

The project next faces the planning commission and then the county commission which is expected to vote on the venture in July, according to county staffers familiar with agenda scheduling for public meetings. If approved, the project could break ground in 2007. Temple-Inland officials have projected it will take 35 years to build out the entire undertaking.

In supporting the project, the Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center suggested the county consider an immediate moratorium on the rezoning and development of adjacent properties until the county has completed a comprehensive land-use plan. The county should also spell out what costs it will incur as Wolf Creek goes forward, the agency advised.

The Development Center says the county should work with the developer in designing Wolf Creek as a live-work-play community. Before sending the rezoning request to the planning commission, the agency says the county should get a written commitment from the developer on providing water and sewer service, schools, fire stations and other services in Wolf Creek.

The agency also suggests the county enforce existing stormwater requirements within the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District to protect the area downstream of the Chattahoochee River.