A Conyers Police officer is in good condition after wrecking his patrol car on Interstate 20 in Newton County Tuesday.
CPD Officer Kyle McGlamery left his house in Social Circle Tuesday morning and headed toward Rockdale County. He was responding to the robbery of a BB&T in Rockdale County.
Witnesses said McGlamery's car hit a pool of standing water on the interstate near the Alcovy River bridge, and the water caused the officer to lose control of the vehicle, said Georgia State Patrol Communicator Misty Jordon.
The car reportedly rotated counterclockwise and entered the grass median before striking a guard rail and finally coming to rest near the eastbound lanes of traffic. McGlamery was injured and trapped inside his patrol car after the driver side door was crushed against the rail.
Rescue workers quickly responded and were able to tear off the driver's side door, Jordon said. McGlamery was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital where his injuries required surgery.
Whitefish LLC owns the 15.8 acres in question which are adjacent to Middle Ridge Elementary School. The development company is proposing to develop the land as a retail center with 87,800 square feet of retail space spread out across three buildings.
Whitefish LLC also owns 31 acres of land across the street from the 15.8 acres which was annexed by Porterdale two years earlier according to attorney Frank Turner Jr. who represents Whitefish. The 31 acres are already zoned general commercial and are being developed as a mixed use development with a commercial component. The two projects are being developed separately.
According to the resolution, the county is concerned that the proposed commercial development of the 15.8 acres would require extended and widened roads as well as expanded city services such as police, fire, water and sewer.
The county is also concerned that it cannot fully estimate the potential impacts on watersheds, property values, neighboring residents and aesthetics.
"The proposed commercial development's traffic would significantly impair public safety and hinder the flow of traffic on adjacent roads, in particular the Covington Bypass, which was built to be a public throughway, not a springboard for commercial development," reads the resolution.
According to the resolution, the county will withdraw its objections to the annexation if Porterdale adopts watershed protection regulations substantially like those of the county's as a condition of the city's approval of the proposed commercial development and if the city provides the county with detailed plans, studies, maps and engineering reports which demonstrate how timely and properly funded improvements to the local infrastructure would adequately support the increased intensity of the annexed land.
Despite the strong language of the resolution, county officials and Porterdale officials appear to be fairly confident that the city will be able to respond adequately to the county's concerns and that the county will remove its opposition to the annexation.
Porterdale City Manager Tom Fox said that he was not surprised that the county objected to the annexation.
"They've got criteria that they've got to follow as far as county planning and land use," Fox said. "We understand that they have some concerns and we're happy to work with them and address any issues that they might have. We will start our review and have a response back to them but right now we haven't prepared anything yet.
"I think that they've got an excellent planning department and they're asking good questions," continued Fox. "I think that reflects wisely on Newton County government to ask for more information. We feel confident that we can answer all of their questions and resolve any issues."
Added Turner, "We're hopeful that we can allay any concerns that the county may have. The sales tax generated by this commercial development is going to be extremely beneficial to the city of Porterdale's budget going forth."
