The Hampton council has approved an annexation request near Fortson Road and Atlanta Motor Speedway. This will place a portion of the city in Clayton County. The land is part of a larger project planning to construct industrial space.
By entering Clayton County, this makes Hampton a multiple-county jurisdiction. This can affect service delivery, especially if more property in Clayton County petitions to join the city.
Fortson Road Annexation
Speedway Industrial Campus, LLC of McDonough applied to annex land from unincorporated Clayton County into Hampton city limits. The property, located near Fortson Road, consists of 33 acres. By annexing into Hampton, the land remains part of Clayton County. It also now joins the city limits.
The Hampton council held a public hearing during a special called meeting on Friday, March 1, at 9 am. They subsequently approved the first reading for the annexation. The council later considered and approved the second reading on Tuesday, March 6. The annexation became effective on April 1, 2024.
The Clayton County Board of Commissioners approved in December 2023 a resolution permitting the annexation to proceed. When an annexation would cause a city to jump county lines, such as in this case, this is the only time the county can block the annexation. Otherwise, all other annexation decisions rest with the city council. Because Clayton County permitted this annexation, subsequent adjacent land owners may now also apply to annex into Hampton if they so choose.
In addition to annexation, the council approved rezoning the property to M-1 (light industrial). The property is adjacent to 455 acres, also owned by Speedway Industrial. The land owner intends to combine the tracts for new development. How much development has not been shared.
In November 2018, Henry County approved a rezoning request for seven warehouses on the property. They totaled 6.1 million square feet. Since that time, the property owner sought annexation into Hampton. The council approved this request in spring 2022.
A more recent site plan has not been shared.
Service Delivery
Because Hampton is now partially-located in Clayton County, they become a party to Clayton County’s agreements with its cities. Examples include the service delivery strategy, LOST sales tax agreement and SPLOST sales tax agreement. The city must also approve an agreement with Clayton County pursuant to service delivery. For example, which county should receive a 911 call if the caller is within city limits, but also in Clayton County. The city and Clayton County must finalize these details in the months ahead.
Featured image shows warehouse dock doors. Real estate photo.
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