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Governments Plan for Development of Land Vulnerable to Rising Sea Level: Bryan County, Georgia
Additional background prepared by the staff of Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center and Jim Titus
Located directly south of Chatham County and Savannah, Bryan County has more than 24,000 residents and nearly 450 square miles. Major communities in the county include Richmond Hill and Pembroke. Operable rice paddy systems and tidal swamp (Sterling Creek) drain Richmond Hill. Large portions of the county are still undeveloped with significant agricultural and forested lands. A countywide water and sewer service system is under consideration for the unincorporated areas, and could help move development toward upland parts of the county.
The County will continue to acquire wetlands and marshes (through fee simple purchase or by donations of easements) to supplement existing protected areas. These lands will supplement drainage infrastructure and will help slow flooding in developed areas, because they will be allowed to maintain their natural state either through inundation or conversion to wetlands. Under current funding constraints, it is likely that land acquisition will be limited to slim corridors of greenspace running alongside current riverine and wetland areas.
Our maps assume that developed areas are almost certain to be protected, that undeveloped lands are unlikely to be protected, and that conservation lands will not be protected. Identifying lands that are likely to become developed and eventually protected was the greatest challenge, because county plans do not identify long-term buildout. Planning staff also told us that the areas closer to the ocean are becoming more attractive for residential development Planner Christy Stringer indicated that the county did not have any maps or data that would be useful for our purposes of defining future development, but offered several site-specific facts:
1. Change the land at the end of Oak Level Road from blue to red.
2. Assume that the land along Belfast-Keller Road will probably be developed.
3. Change land along GA-144 south of Belfast from blue to red. "Most of the land [there] is owned by Rayonier and is being sold parcel-by-parcel."
4. The land along US-17 will probably be developed commercially.
Governments Plan for Development of Most Land Vulnerable to Rising Sea (PDF, 7 pp., 1.3 MB) was originally published in Environmental Research Letters , Issue 3, Volume 4 (2009).