Editor’s Note: This story was written about a council meeting that took place before it was announced that ICE had officially purchased the warehouse in Social Circle.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — Amid news that a one million square-foot warehouse at East Hightower Trail and Social Circle Parkway is slated to become a federally owned Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, Social Circle officials heard a report from the city’s planning staff on a variance request submitted by the currently listed owner of the property on Feb. 5.

City staff and elected officials have been strongly opposed to the planned detention center, arguing that the city does not have the water and sewer capacity, nor the emergency services capabilities, to deal with a facility that could nearly triple the city’s population. 

Social Circle citizens, as well as area progressive organizations, have also registered strong opposition to an ICE detention center.  

Last Thursday’s council meeting was a non-voting work session, during which City Attorney Tony Powell advised the council that the variance request should get a hearing at the council’s Feb. 17 voting meeting, regardless of whether the owner currently listed on Walton County tax records, PNK S1 LLC, withdraws the request between now and the voting meeting. 

Powell’s advice came amid reports that the property is already in escrow, an arrangement in which a third party holds funds, documents and property titles until inspection, appraisal and financing requirements are met under the terms of a purchase agreement.  

Part of the global PNK Group, an industrial building developer with offices in New York, PNK S1 LLC has a registered agent in the metropolitan Atlanta city of Roswell. 

A PNK Group sign that had been on the warehouse property was taken down within the last few days, as was a sign for Binswanger, a global industrial real estate firm with an office in Atlanta.

The city said that the warehouse had officially been sold to the federal government as of Sunday in a social media post.

The zoning variance, being sought by PNK Group, according to paperwork filed with the city, seeks an increase in the allowable impervious surface area at the warehouse site from the maximum of 40% permitted in light industrial zones to 50%. Impervious surfaces include areas such as roofs and parking lots, which can contribute negatively to stormwater runoff. As noted during Thursday’s meeting, the warehouse is directly across the street from a watershed protection zone.  

According to its filing with the city, PNK Group is seeking the variance, in part, to be able to subdivide the East Hightower Trail property, where two additional large warehouses are planned. 

In its paperwork, filed in December, PNK Group indicates that the variance request “is driven by functional and operational requirements of a prospective end user.” 

The prospective end user is not identified in the filing for the variance request, making it unclear whether it has anything to do with the ICE detention center, which could become operational as soon as April, according to information from the office of U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R), whose district includes Social Circle.    

At last  Thursday’s council meeting, Social Circle Community Development Director Ashley Davis, who heads planning and zoning activities for the city government, told the council she had been trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with PNK Group to see if the company would be withdrawing its variance request. She told the council she would continue her efforts to get in touch with the company. 

The variance request comes to the council with recommendations from both the city planning staff and the Social Circle Planning Commission, which serves the city council in an advisory capacity, that it be denied. However, if the warehouse does come under the ownership of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as a federal entity, it would not have to comply with local zoning regulations. 

Powell’s assessment came as Social Circle City Manager Eric Taylor observed that “at the very least, what we’re hearing now is the applicant may not be the owner of record now.” 

No way on one-way street 

In other business, the city council set the stage for formally denying a request to make Adams Street into a one-way street. Adams Street links Sycamore Street to East Hightower Trail in part of the business district in downtown Social Circle.  

The request, which got some council discussion last month, came from two local businesswomen who contend Adams Street is too narrow to reasonably accommodate two vehicles traveling in opposite directions. 

During the January discussion, Social Circle Police Chief Jason Guest was asked to study the history of accidents along Adams Street. On Thursday, it was revealed that only two accidents had been recorded on the street in the recent past. Roadway width was not a factor in either accident, Taylor told the council Thursday. 

Taylor went on to tell the council that Adams Street is 21 feet wide, three feet wider than another city street that accommodates two-way traffic. As a result, Taylor said, he saw no reason to make Adams Street one-way. 

The council could vote on the one-way request for Adams Street request at its Feb. 17 meeting.