Lee County's stunning growth has been by design

Apr. 1—EDITOR'S NOTE — First in a series on the continued growth of Lee County.

LEESBURG — It's not hard to imagine the surprise of state officials, especially those in the rapidly expanding metro Atlanta region, when figures from the 2000 and 2010 censuses showed that not all of the state's growth was centralized around the state capital or coastal Savannah.

Somehow, they noted, no doubt with wonder, that a small southwest Georgie farming community had made its way onto the list of the state's fastest-growing communities. Lee County, which was located in what was at the time the fourth-poorest Congressional district in America, had seen its population grow by 52.4% — from 16,250 residents to 24,757 between 1990 to 2000. Proving the numbers were no one's anomaly, the population in Lee County shot up another 14.3% — to 28,298 — from 2000 to 2010, and by 17.2% — to 33,163 — by 2020.

Many opined that the reason for the population explosion in Lee County was a product of "white flight" from neighboring Dougherty County, which, after a growth spurt leading up to the 1980 census that saw its population surpass 100,000 at the time, has lost almost 16% of its population, which now stands at 84,844.

But officials in Lee County are quick to point to other factors that led to the population shift that has been part of a renaissance in this once farming-only community that as recently as 1960 had a population of only 6,204 souls.

"We always say there are three things that led to the growth in Lee County: schools, security and stable government," Lee Commission Chairman Billy Mathis, an Albany-based attorney, said. "The quality of life here has always been good. We have abundant natural resources ... creeks, rivers, great farmland, amazing quail hunting.

"But people started moving here when educators like Dr. Robert Clay and Ms. Opal Cannon laid the foundation for a school system that has become one of the best in the state. Suddenly people started to realize Lee County was a great place to raise a family."

Mathis and current County Manager Christi Dockery both point to development of key infrastructure, especially a water and sewer project, as vital to what Mathis calls "orderly growth" in the county.

"We would not have had the growth we've had without that water/sewer project," the commission chairman said. "Buying up all the small, private water systems in the county and getting into the water and sewer business took vision but it also took a leap of faith.

"The county was told that building and operating the new system would cost around $9 million a year, and that was two or three times what the county's budget was at the time. But we had a commission at the time with good heads for business, and they saw the future."

Once county officials addressed the infrastructure issues exponential growth followed. New houses and subdivisions sprang up, and with residential numbers suddenly skyrocketing, businesses started paying attention.

"I came here in '98, and there was no sort of building code in place," said Lee Chief Building Official and License Collection Agent Joey Davenport, a man of all trades whose business card would be a lot bigger if all of his duties were listed. "Of course, the state of Georgia did not have a unified code until the early 2000s. What we set out to do was come up, initially, with some minimum standards. And there was resistance at first.

"It's been gradual, but we slowly got people — residents and builders — accustomed to what we were doing."

With the population growth has come the need for new housing. And even during the Great Recession from 2008-2010, Lee County's need for new housing has been constant. And it has met those needs.

"Even during the years when the economy slowed down, we were building 100 new residences a year," Mathis said. "Some years, we were building 400-500 houses a year."

Figures provided by Lee County Finance Director Heather Jones show that construction has remained a constant in the county. In 2021, the county issued 1,507 building permits for projects with an estimated cost of $42,308,000. Totals were 1,434 and $38,117,000 in 2022, and in January and February of 2023, the totals are 147 permits valued at $2.5 million.

And that's about to go up considerably.

Davenport noted that recent approval of three new subdivisions in the county will mean 150 new homes.

"When you see this kind of growth, you realize how important it was to elevate the standards of our building inspection process," the chief building official said.

Dockery said the county also is upgrading its broadband access countywide.

"We earmarked $1.2 million (of $5.8 million) of our ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for a project with Windstream that has turned into a $21 million investment," she said. "That's going to be a big change in Lee County; it's going to allow people and businesses to do their work at offices or at home. That's going to change everything here."

But even those bits of economic news pale at the investment plans of the principal of Concrete Enterprise's family of businesses. CEO Jason Wiggins, who is teaming with his boyhood friend, Country music superstar and Lee County native Luke Bryan, on a number of business projects, said the group has purchased 354 acres of undeveloped land in the county and plans to build single-family and townhouse residences as soon as engineering work is completed and plans are approved.

"The kind of growth you're seeing in Lee County doesn't surprise me," Wiggins said. "Lee County has good leadership, and you have to have that kind of leadership to succeed.

"Luke and I love this county — it's where we grew up together — and we want to be involved in projects that make it an even better place to live."