PORTERDALE, Ga. — Porterdale’s mayor said new government leadership and more than $350 million of planned development made 2021 a bright year in the city's history.

Mayor Arline Chapman also said she was glad to see the continuing trend of residents living in houses they own in the city’s historic mill town residential district.

City officials also saw ground broken in 2021 on a new single- and multi-family development on a long-abandoned subdivision site on its south side.

They also approved plans for a separate residential/retail development on the site of the now-closed Oaks golf course in the city’s north end.

“There’s a good feeling here now,” Chapman said. “It’s very different from when I moved here to live in the Lofts.”

She was referring to the former Bibb Manufacturing Co. cloth mill building on the banks of the Yellow River that was renovated into loft-styled residential units in 2008.

Bibb also developed residential neighborhoods around their mill for workers through the first half of the 20th century.

After the mill wound down operations through the 1970s, much of the housing became rental properties and were allowed to decline and become havens for crime, city officials have said.

After the mill building was redeveloped, new residents began buying the historic houses and renovating them while landlords were required to upgrade their properties or sell them — all of which helped stabilize the area, Chapman said.

And following a period of government leadership uncertainty and financial stress — which helped lead to the resignation of a longtime city manager — the latest developments have the city “on the upswing,” Chapman said.

“I think we’ve turned a big corner,” she said.

Chapman is a retired state employee who served on the city council from 2008 until her election as mayor in 2011.

She was among city officials and Covington developer Brad Mitchell to ceremonially break ground in March on the estimated $140 million Cedar Shoals project on a long, narrow 257-acre site between Covington Bypass Road on the south and Georgia Hwy. 81 on the north.

The site formerly was planned as a residential development called White Horse that was left unfinished during the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Plans call for 1,225 residential units, including 341 detached single-family homes, 164 townhomes and 720 apartments.

“When we realized it was coming we beefed up the (city) ordinance to increase the quality of construction,” Chapman said. “The bottom line is they can’t build a bunch of junk.”

In May, Mitchell and his company, Infinity Homes and Development, announced plans to redevelop the historic Oaks golf course site into a $215 million mixed-use development. 

Porterdale City Council approved a rezoning in July for the Oaks project over the objections of some residents outside the city who feared more traffic congestion and crime.

The plan for the 257-acre site includes construction of 692 residential units — 332 single-family attached and detached units and 360 multi-family units — and about 27 acres of commercial development including 143,000 square feet of retail with a possible grocery store anchor.

City Manager Frank Etheridge said city officials are set to meet with the Oaks developers early this month to review their initial plans.

Cedar Shoals, meanwhile, progressed slowly throughout the year, though city officials are expected to consider approving phase 1B of the project early this month, Etheridge said.

The public likely will see more activity this year because phase 1B includes a parkway that will run through the center of the site and connect Covington Bypass and Hwy. 81, he said.  

The infrastructure for Phase 1 could be completed by the spring to serve the project’s first 89 single-family homes — the first of which could be completed by September, he said.

Chapman said 2021 also included work by Etheridge to help the council put the city on a solid financial footing. The city government has had problems balancing its budget in recent years and owed a variety of utility agencies almost $1 million before Etheridge was hired in August 2020.

Porterdale also hired a new public works director, William Carlisle, in late November, Chapman said. Public works is responsible for a number of services — from trash collection to broken water lines — in the old mill town and is a major target of complaints to city leaders. 

Chapman said a new amenity that opened in 2021 was a new, fenced dog park near the city’s nature preserve which is set to be dedicated in early spring.

He said Facebook and Holder Corp. helped the city complete renovations to Snow Ballfield next to city hall, including installation of new LED lights and renovation work on the field itself.

The two companies also helped the city reestablish a walking trail alongside the Yellow River, he said. 

Changes on the city council in 2021 included former council member Kay Piper winning a special election to replace Niki Westcott, who moved outside the city. 

The council also appointed Michael Patterson and Jill Minnoia to fill council seats left vacant by the resignations of Tim Savage and Mike Harper. Patterson, Minnoia and Councilman Lowell Chambers were then unopposed for election to their council seats in the November election. 

However, Porterdale voters in a referendum chose to allow the city council to consider approving retail package sales of liquor. The first application was expected this year.