Albany commissioner’s rezoning request draws questions

By Alan Mauldin

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ALBANY – One Albany city commissioner’s efforts to rezone land in the north Albany hospital district has hit some snags, raising questions from some fellow commissioners.

Commissioner Chad Warbington was denied in August 2025 in a rezoning request for 600 Second Ave.

The Ward IV commissioner now has another zoning request before the commission. In that request he is seeking to have .18 acres at 602 Second Ave. that is owned by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital rezoned from C-3c (commercial business district, conditional) to C-R (community residential multiple-dwelling district. The stated purpose for the change is to allow for the construction of a duplex at that location.

In August, a request for rezoning at 600 Second Ave. from Warbington was denied by the City Commission.

Leading the charge against Warbington is Ward VI Commissioner Diane Brown, who questioned whether Warbington’s project would use city funds. Specifically, she said she has concerns that the project would draw from city funds from a payment to the city from the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia or the Albany/Dougherty Land Bank. 

“Chad sits on the MEAG board and he asked for that $2 million we’re getting from the land bank,” she said during a telephone interview. “He asked for the $2 million in the medical district.”

The commissioner also said she had questions about whether Wargington should have recused himself from discussions about the project and his ties to Phoebe Putney.

“I think it’s about ethics and following the rules of law,” Brown said. “I think it’s a conflict of interest.”

On Tuesday Warbington left the room for the entirety of the public hearing held on the 602 Second Ave. request and was represented by Dawson attorney Ed Collier.

The Albany-Dougherty Planning Commission voted to deny recommending approval of the request in a 4-3 vote. However, that commission’s staff has recommended approval.

“It was denied before it got to us,” Brown said. “And he had a lawyer (on Tuesday). He should have had a lawyer over in zoning, not the commission meeting.”

For his part, Warbington said he is within his rights to advocate for approval at the Planning Commission and has not participated in discussion or votes in City Commission sessions.

“When I ran for office, I did not lose any constitutional rights,” Wargington during a telephone interview. “I still have the right to buy land, own land. What I can’t do as a commissioner is take government money. 

“That is not what I am doing. I have no intention of using public money. On the private side I’ve got to raise my own funds through a bank or partners, not public funds. To be absolutely clear, I have absolutely no plan and no desire to use public funds, and it would be totally illegal for me to access any city funds. That is one of the rights I gave up when I became a commissioner.”

As a businessman, the commissioner said, he owns land in multiple locations in the city, but has never used public money in developing it.

“This is a political hit job,” he said. “This is just one commissioner attempting to tarnish my name. The level that a commissioner is going through to try to revoke my constitutional rights as a commissioner is ridiculous. It’s purely political, and that’s fine. I signed up for it when I ran for office.”

The 600 and 602 Second Ave. sites are currently zoned for use as parking lots, which does not reflect the best use for them, Warbington said. Prior to 1989 they were zoned for use for housing development. 

“There is no value in them as a parking lot,” he said. “As a contractor and developer I

am constantly purchasing properties, applying for historic tax credits, paying taxes. For whatever reason this one was difficult.”

During the commission meeting on Tuesday, Ward III Commissioner Vilnis Gaines asked whether or not Warbington intends to apply for public funding to develop the 602 Second Ave. site, and Collier responded that he did not.

During a Thursday telephone interview, Gaines said he is satisfied with that answer.

“As long as it’s clear he doesn’t have any interest in seeking any money from the city … I don’t see any problem as long as he’s using his own money,” Gaines said.“I just wanted to have some clarification that he was not using any of the city funds or any of the MEAG funds for his project.”

The commission is scheduled to vote on the zoning request on Tuesday.