Cohilas optimistic about county’s future in storm aftermath

ALBANY — While noting the tremendous harm done by the wind and tornado storms in January to the Albany-Dougherty County community, County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, speaking to the Kiwanis Club of Dougherty County on Monday, expressed optimism going forward.

“I’m not trying to minimize the tremendous harm that has happened,” Cohilas said. “I don’t want at all to diminish the fact that we have a lot of people that are hurting (from the January weather events). We have moved beyond where we’re trying to figure out how to preserve life, limb and property. We’ve gotten that stabilized.”

As the Jan. 22 storm moved through east Albany, three of the city’s major employers suffered severe damage, according to Cohilas.

“At the Marine Corps Logistics Base, as of now we are at about $300 million in damage and counting,” he said. Also, Procter & Gamble’s distribution warehouse was “completely totaled,” and Coats & Clark’s 120,000-square-foot distribution center “was completely leveled.”

“Despite all the damage that has occurred to those three major industries, they are rebuilding bigger and better than ever before. Not one employee was laid off,” Cohilas said, drawing applause from his audience. “That is really huge because those are the cornerstones of our economy.”

On the residential side, the commission chairman said there is still a great need in the community.

“As a community, we’re going to have some very complicated needs,” he said. “We’ve got a housing market that’s in extreme fluctuation from two separate events. We have a lot of rental properties that are being sucked up very quickly. You have major property-value fluctuations that are going to be restored during the next two to three years, but a lot of folks (with insurance) are going to be rebuilding bigger and better.

“Meeting the needs of folks who don’t necessarily qualify for FEMA (assistance) is a discussion we are going to have to engage in. We’re going to have to find ways to have an intelligent discussion about housing, about incentivizing people to actually own their homes in neighborhoods within the community.”

Cohilas also used the occasion to touch on future greenspace plans he said he believes will appeal to millennials who are drawn to “live, work, play” communities.

“A lot of (studies) show that ‘live, work, play’ communities are not only better for economic development, but it’s also better for your health,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to attract businesses and executives.”

The chairman specifically referred to the Flint River Greenway Trail project, which is slated to connect walking trails on both sides of the Flint River to a 13.1-mile Albany-to-Sasser rails-to-trails path.

“The city of Albany is already contractually obligated to pave a rail trail from Albany up to Sasser, 13.1 miles,” he said. “Over the last 15 to 20 years, the county has been acquiring greenspace, property you can’t improve along the river, and we have developed a plan to actually unite paved trails all the way down to the Boy Scout camp (and) back north all the way to Chehaw, connecting them to the trail from Albany to Sasser, and then on the east side of the river as well. When you look at communities that have done these types of improvements, that is actually travel infrastructure, they have experienced huge economic growth. (The Heritage Riverways Trail System) up in Rome, Georgia, has been estimated to have about a $50 million to $55 million (positive) impact on the economy.”

Asked what local government officials might do differently in possible future weather events, Cohilas responded, “We’ll have a complete post-incident review that’s performed by GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency). They’ll review all the operational steps. They’ll look at the timeline of events. I think one of the things we realize that we can do better is finding ways that we can engage with people.”