Pembroke city council votes to rezone over 200 parcels of land for homes

PEMBROKE, Ga. (WTOC) - In 2017, the City of Pembroke identified nearly 230 parcels of land to be rezoned from agricultural to residential use.

But Steve Scholar with the city’s planning and zoning commission says there was a problem.

“For some reason, it never got voted on,” said Scholar.

Now, with city leaders saying there’s growing interest to build new houses here, council finally voted to approve the change at last night’s council meeting.

The parcels sit mostly undeveloped in the northwest section of Pembroke.

“We think that’s where the growth is going to come because of the Hyundai plant and just the growth in general in this area. We meet weekly with people that are interested in developing. I met this morning with someone who wants to bring 30 homes into the city. So there’s lots of interest.”

Scholar says that even though there currently aren’t any large-scale housing developments up for final approval, the change gives property owners greater flexibility.

“It gives the people that own the property more options. The city is not in the business of developing property, but we are trying to make it reasonable for people who want to come in and develop.”

But Scholar says that increasing the city’s limited sewage processing abilities is a priority for ensuring that interest for development can be met.

“We only have a certain amount of sewer capacity and at the moment, we don’t have near enough for that. At some point, we’re going to have to build a mechanical plant, but that’s four or five years down the road.”

Scholar says the city is working to expand current sewage capacity amid expected growth from the nearby Hyundai electric vehicle plant.

As for the parcels, the city did allow people who owned five or more acres of the affected land to keep the agricultural zoning for their property.

Scholar says a handful of people did take that option.

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