The quiet authority shaping the future of Robins Air Force Base

This story is part of “Power,” a series by The Melody examining local authorities — quasi-governmental bodies that make consequential decisions about housing, water, transit, development, health care and public spending — that shape life in Macon-Bibb County. Read other parts of the series at maconmelody.com/power.

Two decades ago, Robins Air Force Base was facing several challenges that left community leaders on edge.

The threat of Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, loomed large. Because it was hemmed in to the north by a swath of land where homes and businesses stood, the base was in danger of not being able to grow its mission. At the same time, the land couldn’t be freely developed because of noise pollution and concerns about the potential of aircraft crashes given the proximity of base runways, where plane accidents are most likely to happen.  

In 2006, the Department of Defense came up with a solution. It awarded a grant to the Central Georgia Joint Development Authority so that the agency could begin to address the base’s encroachment problem.

Formed to encourage economic development, the authority saw its mission shift to a singular task — securing land near the base to guarantee that Middle Georgia’s largest employer wouldn’t have its operations interfered with and would not be restricted from future growth.

That shift in purpose makes the authority unique as its focus is “intentionally” different from other joint development authorities, Middle Georgia Regional Commission Executive Director Laura Mathis said. It is not offering incentives, marketing or recruiting businesses like the Peach County Development Authority or the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority. 

By clearing land around the base and reducing residential density, the Central Georgia Joint Development Authority aims to make sure the surrounding acreage is compatible with the future of Robins.  

Joint development authorities started cropping up around Georgia in the mid-1990s as counties looked to take advantage of job tax credits offered to the state’s poorest counties. The Central Georgia Joint Development Authority was created in 1995 and initially involved only Twiggs and Bibb counties.

Bigger board, one goal

Now, the Central Georgia Joint Development Authority is a 44-member board that includes four representatives from 11 Middle Georgia counties, spanning from Pulaski County to Putnam County. It has no staff, so it contracts with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission to handle its administrative and planning needs, including how to deal with clearing what the Air Force calls the “encroachment zone,” an area where incompatible land use poses a threat to the future of the base.

“We came up with a strategy and established policies and procedures on every acquisition,” Mathis said.

The authority will not force or pressure residents into selling their homes, a lesson it learned the hard way, Mathis said.

Mathis recalled a “legendary meeting” with the community about encroachment in 2009. Nearly 300 people packed into a church in southern Bibb County, anxious about the authority’s plan to buy their homes, according to news reports. 

Residents at the meeting were encouraged to move out of the encroachment zone, which officials wanted to restrict to industrial uses only.

“I mean, we got raked over the coals,” Mathis recalled of the fallout. “Most importantly, that effort taught us that, if we didn’t go into this with willing [sellers] and not pressuring people and not arm twisting and all that, it won’t work.”

The authority sent out postcards to property owners in the encroachment zone, asking them to contact the authority if they were interested in selling. The authority started working with people who responded.

“We’ve been patient,” Mathis said, adding the authority has acquired 335 parcels, about 1,164 acres, in the zone since 2009. The state and counties acquired about 836 acres of the zone in the mid-’90s. 

Now the residential density is acceptably low in the area, Mathis said.

Compatible uses

The authority is in its second phase of minimizing encroachment, which involves finding appropriate uses for the land.

The authority’s acquisitions took property off the tax rolls. In its redevelopment plan, it identified compatible uses to make those properties taxable again in ways that do not harm the base and even benefit it.

In 2018, the authority issued bonds for Georgia Power to build a 128-megawatt solar farm that powers the grid and supports energy resilience and security goals for the base. Georgia Power was mandated by the Public Service Commission to help take care of military installations and has built solar farms at other bases in Columbus and near Augusta.

The authority owns the land, about 584 acres, and leases it to Georgia Power, which makes payments in lieu of taxes to the authority. Those payments are used to acquire more property and repay counties for the money each of them invested to help the authority acquire it.

Mathis said Georgia Power invested $177 million to build the solar farm, which has capacity to produce energy to power over 25,000 homes.

Last year, the authority issued additional bonds for Georgia Power to build a battery energy storage system to store some of the solar power on about 149 acres. The authority collects payments in lieu of taxes for that project as well.

Mathis said the focus now is on “filling in the gaps,” which amount to about 1,000 acres that need to be protected or rezoned for conservation reasons related to encroachment, the Ocmulgee National Park initiative and protection of the Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

“There’s not a lot of property remaining in the focus area in Macon-Bibb, so most of our effort is going to be focused down in Houston County,” Mathis said. “We have a broader scope. Still, a big chunk is encroachment, but we’ve got these other things that we’re doing. There’s lots of reasons why this land needs to be protected. … It brings a whole host of federal agencies to the table around that habitat and the environment around a military installation.” 

Fast facts

• Bibb County is represented on the board by Elaine Lucas, Walt Miller, Lester Miller and George Thomas. View the full list of board members.
• The authority meets on the second Wednesday in the last month of each calendar quarter at 4:30 p.m., with an annual meeting each December. Meetings are held at the MGRC headquarters at 3661 Eisenhower Parkway, Suite MB102.
• Read the authority’s bylaws.