A plan to add more than 1,100 new homes to Whitfield County's tight housing market cleared a hurdle when the board of commissioners unanimously approved a measure last week extending sewer lines to a 400-acre housing development site on Cleveland Highway about 12 miles north of Dalton.
"We have thousands of people who come into Dalton and Whitfield County every day for work ... there's just so many jobs we have, which is great, but they all go back home because there is no place for them to live," said commission chair Jevin Jensen in an interview Monday. "They go back to Cleveland [Tennessee], they go back to Catoosa County. And we literally can see the population during the day from 8 to 5 grow by thousands of people, but then they all leave at five o'clock."
Expected to be an investment of more than $300 million, Camden Farms would be the largest planned community ever in Whitfield County, according to Jensen. The typical home will feature four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with a starting price around $300,000. The development is planned to include amenities like playgrounds and a pool.
At a special meeting Thursday at Edwards Park Community Center, the board voted to allocate $900,000 to extend sewer lines 3 miles north to reach the site on Cleveland Highway in the Strain Road area. The development aligns with the county's master plan to add more homes in its northern end, Jensen said, near several middle and high schools that have recently been built and opened.
Jensen said the deal with Three Point Development of Chattanooga requires that once the builder closes on the property and starts engineering work, Whitfield County will provide the sewer funds from the $20.3 million the county is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan, a pandemic relief package passed last year by Democrats in Congress.
Dave Canter, one of the owners of Three Point Development, said that based on an economic analysis and conversations with residents, the company agreed Whitfield County needed more housing stock.
'There's just a home shortage we feel like in Whitfield County," Canter said. "That's why we felt like it was a good project for all involved."
Canter said he has built homes in Hamilton County and Cleveland, Tennessee.
The site plan for Camden Farms includes more than 1,100 houses and townhomes, but Canter said the final plan would likely exceed that number. Three Point is early in the process, but he said he expects the first batch of houses ready for new residents in mid-to-late 2023.
"Activity spurs interest, so when we start a development, we don't usually start with one at a time. We may start with 15 to 20 homes, with different home plans at one time," Canter said. "And then obviously, you like to have an inventory of homes. So when your first home sells, then you start your 21st home. Absorption rate kinda drives development. How quickly you sell homes drives how fast you build new homes."
The houses would be built in phases, and he expects the entire development to be completed in about eight to 10 years. Supply chain issues could add some delays to the project, he said.
On the day of the meeting, Jensen said 92 homes were listed for sale in Whitfield County, compared to its population of more than 102,000 residents. He added later that young working families want new homes with amenities like small yards and modern features already built in.
Jensen said that based on the 2020 census, the population grew in Georgia and Dalton, but Whitfield County was stagnant. He said the lack of home supply could be the reason and that with two other new developments ramping up, Whitfield County could have 1,500 new homes added to its housing stock in the near future.
New businesses are being added in Varnell and Cohutta, he said, and he expects more business growth as new housing stock is added.
"Chattanooga and Catoosa County have had their growth, and now it's time for us to catch up," Jensen said.
To encourage economic development, the largest expansion of sewer outside the city of Dalton in Whitfield County history will begin this year, according to information from the county. In December, the board agreed to apply to the State Fiscal Recovery Grant Fund for a sewer infrastructure grant that would extend sewer along Cleveland Highway, Carbondale Road, Command Drive, Connector 3, Crider Road and Tibbs Bridge Road to Riverbend Road.
Also, the county is using $4.9 million of sales tax revenue for sewer expansion to the Carbondale interchange, the Connector 3 interchange, and north along Cleveland Highway to about Frontier Trail.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@digital.wehco.com.