MOULTRIE —  A land deal that might one day be a new industrial park for  Moultrie and Colquitt County is on hold.

Back in January of 2015, the Colquitt County Economic Development Authority agreed to purchase some 225 acres for $3.5 million. After that agreement, however, an appraisal of that property arrived at a value of $2,378,000. The authority backed off the original agreement and has been negotiating with the owners of the property for a lower price.

Authority Executive Director Darrel Moore said the project could come up for discussion at a meeting next week.

Meanwhile there are three other sites that were part of a study, some inside the city and some outside that the authority could reconsider should the original plan not come to fruition.

“None of the sites were perfect, but the one the authority chose had more positives than negatives,” said Moore.

On Jan. 7, the authority approved moving ahead with the purchase of 225 acres located at the intersection of U.S. 319 North and Highway 133, with the northern and eastern boundaries set by Doc Darbyshire Road.

The site, owned by the Darbyshire family, was by far the most desirable piece of real estate in the county in terms of is suitability for industrial development, according to a study commissioned last year by the authority.

The study was made by an outside entity.

“(The) Darbyshire site received the highest overall score and prioritization due to proximate location to highways, existing infrastructure presence, speed of implementation, ability to cut/fill on site, site visibility, and proximity to amenities and talent pipeline,” according to a summary provided by Deloitte Consulting.

The authority paid $32,000 for the study.

The company, which made its presentation to authority members in November, pointed to the availability of Moultrie utilities including fiber optic infrastructure, proximity to Moultrie Technical College as a talent pool, close proximity to hotels and restaurants and site visibility as positives.

Negatives identified included traffic congestion and commercial/residential uses, a potential growth corridor for commercial use related to the new high school that may deter some companies, and the potential to mitigate wetlands. There are two ponds and a creek on the property, with a total of 22.27 acres of wetlands.

The vote to approve the purchase had six authority members in favor, with Plenn Hunnicutt casting a vote against and Barbara Jelks abstaining.

Hunnicutt cited the proximity to the high school and potential for big-truck traffic added to the mix of students on the road as his concern.

The deal was described as a joint project of the authority, Colquitt County Commission and Colquitt County School Board. The latter two are not financially involved but have given their blessing to the plan for industrial development in that location.

As for any specific expressed industrial interest in the Darbyshire site at this point, Moore said last fall a company viewed the property but said it would get back with the authority later. 

“We haven’t heard from them since then,” said Moore.