UGA Archway helping develop plan to promote Mega Site

The Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority has used the Archway Partnership, a program by the University of Georgia to connect communities to university resources, to help develop a plan to promote the Heart of Georgia Mega Site. 

With the help of two recently released studies through the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the authority hopes to solicit assistance to pre-develop the site or even attract investment from a large employer.   

“We’ve had activity on it over the years, and a couple of projects are looking at it right now,” said Mitch Griggs, president of the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority. “The primary challenge of the site is infrastructure. It is currently not served by water, sewer or natural gas.”

The Heart of Georgia Mega Site is a 2,000-acre tract of land near Ga. 199 and Interstate 16. The site has access to railroads and electricity. It is owned by timberland management firm Weyerhaeuser and marketed in partnership with the development authority. 

One of the two studies, dubbed the “Dublin-Laurens Site Study” compiles area demographics such as population, education level and tax statistics for Laurens and surrounding counties. Such data is often requested by potential investors as companies examine available workforce and the full cost of locating a business to an area. 

The data shows that Laurens County is expected to see a 5 percent increase in population by the year 2040, while all neighboring counties will see a decline in the number of residents. Laurens is the only county in the area to experience more births than deaths in 2024, but only by a thin margin. There were 631 recorded deaths last year and 637 births. 

Other data points include graduation rates, with Laurens County at 89.3 percent and Dublin City at 94 percent. Neighboring Bleckley County was the only other school with an above 90 percent graduation rate, and the only school system to see an increase in the K-12 student enrollment from 2014 to 2024. 

Laurens County has a 19.2 percent poverty rate with a median household income of about $56,000.

“This is a fantastic updated compilation, in a single document, that will help us market the site,” Griggs said. 

The second study, the “Economic Development Scenarios for Laurens County,” aims to help local leaders plan for which kind of project would be the best fit for the site and the area. The study suggests traditional employers like automotive and healthcare  manufacturing facilities and other projects, including power generation and data centers. Each potential project could generate jobs and boost the local tax digest. 

In the end, Griggs said, it’s about finding the right business that a good fit for the community and will ignite additional investment in the Mega Site. 

“A good example is the Hwashin plant,” Griggs said. “We invested in that site (the Ga. 257 site) to attract a project. Then it opens the door to other funding.”