Update 2023-08-24: Packet: Two county rezonings, one plainly inappropriate @ GLPC 2023-08-28.

Please sign and share this petition:

https://chng.it/LDW47QsdSd

We the undersigned ask that the request for 2.5 acre lots on Quarterman Road be denied.

The smallest appropriate acreage in our area is the EA minimum of 5 acres.

Rural rezonings like this lead to additional developments in the future. We don’t want it now and we don’t want it later.

We ask the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission to recommend denial in its August meeting.

We ask the Lowndes County Commission to deny in its September meeting.

Rezoning sign, site, Quarterman Road, Zoning Map, Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area

R-A allows 2.5-acre lots, while E-A allows only down to 5-acre lots. That is inappropriate on Quarterman Road, where there is no R-A, and the entire road is in the Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area. Many of us fought to preserve that Character Area only two years ago. Just last year we fought off a Dollar General on GA-122 at Skipper Bridge Road, in the same Character Area.

Now let’s stop this rezoning in the same Character Area.

According to the Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC),

2.01.02 Rural Zoning Districts

The following rural zoning districts are established:

A. E-A, Estate Agricultural District (5 acre). This district is intended to provide for agricultural activities, including those related to crops, livestock, and timber, protected from the effects of suburban residential development. Single-family homes, and specified accessory structures and uses are permissible.

B. R-A, Residential Agricultural District (2.5 acre). This district is intended to preserve the mixed agricultural and residential character of land while providing a transition between rural and agricultural land and suburban and urban land.

As you can see, E-A permits subdividing only down to 5-acre lots, while R-A permits 2.5-acre lots.

The tract in question is parcel 0102 022 at 6119 Quarterman Road.

Lowndes County Parcel 0102 022, 6119 Quarterman Road — Lowndes County Tax Assessors

That tract is slightly less than 18 acres, so it could be chopped up into 7 2.5-acre lots. That’s a small subdivision.

We who live here like E-A to be “protected from the effects of suburban residential development.”

We don’t want R-A as a “transition between rural and agricultural land and suburban and urban land.”

The tract is on the southeast corner of Quarterman Road.

Quarterman Road with Parcel 0102 022 marked in SE corner — Lowndes County Tax Assessors

According to the Lowndes County Zoning Map of December 8, 2025, all of Quarterman Road is E-A, except for a few lots in the subdivision on the west side, and a few lots near the northwest corner with Hambrick Road.

Lowndes County Zoning Map of December 8, 2025
PDF

That may be easier to see in VALORGIS:

Zoning, Quarterman Road, VALORGIS

According to the Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan (PDF), Quarterman Road is in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area.

See VALORGIS:

Character Areas, Quarterman Road, VALORGIS

While R-A is permitted in such a Character Area, the Conservation Plan says:

Development Strategy

The rural character should be maintained by strictly limiting new development and protecting farmland and open space by maintaining large lot sizes and promoting use of conservation easements. Residential subdivisions should be severely limited and any minor exceptions should be required to follow a rural cluster zoning or conservation subdivision design.

Some of us remember only two years ago fighting to keep the Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Areas unchanged.

Just last year we fought off a Dollar General at the corner of GA 122 and Skipper Bridge Road, in the same Character Area.

Let’s stop this R-A rezoning where it does not belong.

Please sign the petition.

Please call or write your Planning Commissioner and County Commissioner.

https://lowndescounty.com/181/Board-of-Commissioners

-jsq
John S. Quarterman, 229-242-0102

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