During a special called meeting on Thursday, the Chatsworth City Council unanimously approved a request to annex a 41-acre tract of property along west Highway 76.
Mayor K.W. Gong votes only if there is a tie.
The request, Ordinance No. 24-03, was made to “extend the existing corporate city limits of the city of Chatsworth,” Gong said.
Steve Williams, the city attorney for Chatsworth, said the annexed property is for the construction of a new hospital owned by AdventHealth for Murray County.
AdventHealth currently has a hospital in Murray County at 707 Old Dalton Ellijay Road. It will move into the new, larger hospital building once construction is complete, which is projected within two to three years, Chatsworth City Council member Terry Crump said.
Williams said he learned about the project in December.
“And we jumped on it,” he said. “In order to get the annexation done, we had to extend Highway 76 approximately a quarter of a mile. That could only be done through the (state) legislature.”
District 6 Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, was “very instrumental” in the process of getting the project off the ground with the forming of House Bill 1403, Williams said.
“Rep. Ridley took the ball and ran with it in Atlanta,” he said. “He got the legislative council involved and they drew the local legislation for the annexation of approximately a quarter mile west on 76, from basically where the old Brass Lantern (restaurant) was to Jackson Road, heading west towards Dalton.”
Williams said Ridley and District 54 Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, worked quickly to pass the request along, with Gov. Brian Kemp signing off on the bill on March 18.
He said the city was originally approached by developers out of Kansas about the potential project late last year.
“They wanted to annex this property into the city as the site for the future hospital facility,” he said. “The way that annexation works, we can’t just go out into the county and annex an ‘island.’ We have to connect to it someway or another.”
That connection included the state needing to extend the Chatsworth city limits along Highway 76 a quarter mile west toward Dalton “in order for us to touch the property so that we could then annex it into the city,” Williams said.
“Rep. Ridley was very, very helpful in getting this done,” Williams said. “It’s a brand new facility and (the developers) are talking about spending millions of dollars. That’s huge for Chatsworth and we’re glad to have it.”
Crump said approving the annexation request is “large for the community.”
“It will be a state-of-the-art, well-built hospital,” Crump said. “When businesses look, they look at hospitals to see what kind of healthcare they have for their employees to take care of them. Our citizens won’t have to go to Calhoun, Chattanooga or Atlanta.”
The new hospital will open up more services locally, Crump said.
“It’s a giant step, and getting it through was a joint effort between the city, county and especially the state,” he said. “It’s going to be absolutely great for Murray County. It’s been a few decades since our existing hospital was built, so it’s time.”
Crump said the current hospital building was constructed around the late 1970s.
“So that kind of tells you it’s getting some age on it,” he said. “Before that, the hospital sat behind the (Chatsworth Police Department) station here downtown. So this will be the third hospital I can remember. AdventHealth Murray does great work and with all the advancements they’ve got now, this one is going to be so much further ahead than what we’ve had before service-wise. It’s going to help a whole lot.”
Williams said coordination was key in annexing the property inside the city limits.
“I want to say how proud I am that local government, in coordination with our representatives in Atlanta, worked together to make this happen in a timely fashion for the benefit of the citizens, not just of Chatsworth, but Murray County and frankly Northwest Georgia,” he said. “This is a huge project.”
Williams noted Murray County Sole Commissioner Greg Hogan consented to the annexation of county property into the city for the project.
“I appreciate Commissioner Hogan for doing that,” he said. “And again, I really want to pay special attention to Rep. Ridley for really carrying the water, so to speak, in Atlanta. If only the folks in Washington could see how multiple governmental officials can work together to accomplish a great goal for their constituents. I’m proud to have been a part of that and I’m thankful for all the other officials that participated. This is a real big deal for Chatsworth and Murray County. We annexed a little bit of property for a very big deal and it’s a great thing.”