Forsyth Has Set a Higher Bar for New Subdivisions. What Does That Mean for the Homes Already Here?
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
"No more residential." That is how H&H Timberlands CEO Tye Hanna summed up what he had heard from the community over the previous two or three years. He said it to Forsyth City Council on February 2, 2026, while asking the city to rezone roughly 452 acres of his company's land along Johnstonville Road. Part of that land was zoned R-1 residential and part was a Planned Unit Development. Both parts went back to agricultural zoning, and the full 1,632-acre tract was approved for a data center.
According to the council's February 2 minutes, the landowner pointed to the county's moratorium on large subdivisions, which had been in place for over a year, as one reason residential use was off the table. Next to I-75, land that had once been zoned for homes went to a different use.
That decision is the clearest example of a pattern that runs through Forsyth and Monroe County in 2026. City and county decisions this year have set a higher bar for new single-family subdivisions, while approving apartments and large employment projects that are already breaking ground. If you're comparing Forsyth with other towns along I-75, that pattern affects what you'll be competing with in a few years more than this fall's median price does.
The H&H property has more than four miles of I-75 frontage. It was annexed into the City of Forsyth in 2020 and 2021, and the company agreed to pay $4 million to run a sewer line through the property and connect it to the city system, because the county doesn't have sewer. With sewer access and interstate frontage, the tract was a natural candidate for subdivisions. Instead, council approved the rezoning unanimously and the conditional use for data centers and substations 5–1.
Trammell Crow told council the campus would total just under 12 million square feet across 21 buildings. Hanna projected 630 full-time jobs once the project is fully built out. Getting there is a long process. Under the approval, the developer has to request a land disturbance permit within 36 months after signing an agreement to bring power to the site, or the conditional use is revoked and the property keeps its agricultural zoning. At the December 22, 2025 Planning and Zoning hearing, the minutes recorded that a MEAG study found existing infrastructure could support around half the site.
The council vote changed the land's zoning, even though the data center itself may be years away. If the project never happens, the land remains agricultural, as Hanna told council.
Outside city limits, Monroe County had frozen major subdivisions since March 11, 2025. Commissioners extended the freeze on March 17, 2026, and 13WMAZ reported that it had stopped nearly all new residential development.
When the freeze was set to expire, commissioners didn't simply reopen the door. Here's how the board voted on May 5, 2026, according to the county's meeting minutes:
| Proposal on May 5, 2026 | Vote | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Extend the major-subdivision moratorium until a new land use plan is done | Rejected by the other four commissioners | No extension |
| Five-acre minimum lots in every county zoning district | 1–4 | Failed |
| Raise the Agricultural-Residential minimum from three acres to five, other districts unchanged | 3–2 | Passed |
| Two or more entrances for any development with 15 or more lots | 5–0 | Passed |
| One accessory dwelling per main home, capped at 1,000 square feet | 5–0 | Passed |
| Topography map required for all lots being developed | 5–0 | Passed |
The moratorium ended, and a new set of standards replaced it. Under the five-acre rule, a buyer who wants a new home on Agricultural-Residential land now needs a larger tract. Larger subdivisions also face requirements for multiple entrances, road standards and topography maps before they can move forward.
The commissioners didn't agree on the tradeoff. Commissioner Davis argued that a five-acre requirement could keep people without high incomes from moving to the county, and he noted that Monroe's spot on I-75 already makes it more attractive than more rural counties in Middle Georgia. Commissioner Eddie Rowland suggested that a future comprehensive plan could create several Agricultural-Residential districts, with minimum lot sizes that grow larger the farther a tract sits from I-75 and Forsyth.
On May 4, 2026, the day before the county vote, Forsyth City Council took up the preliminary plat for The Villas at Juliette. Edgar Hughston Builders had proposed 83 single-family homes on about 77 acres off Juliette Road. A motion to approve died without a second, and council then voted unanimously to disapprove the plat.
Three months later, on August 3, council approved a rezoning for PrimePoint Ventures' The Grove. The plan calls for 114 apartments, with 48 of them on a roughly four-acre parcel proposed for annexation. The developer has to pay for improvements to Moreland Avenue and fence the retention ponds, and city staff reported that utility capacity is available, according to the city's meeting recap.
The city's two biggest housing decisions of 2026 rejected a detached-home subdivision and approved rental units on a much smaller footprint. In the county, 41NBC reported that the growth debate turned on limited municipal water and reluctance to extend sewer beyond the city. That leaves the city as the most practical place for denser housing.
Three large projects are on the calendar regardless of what happens with residential zoning.
Most of the Smarr jobs are temporary construction work, and a data center employs relatively few people for its size, as Hanna himself told council. Still, Buc-ee's and the power plant will bring years of crews and new workers into a county that has just made new rural homes harder to build.
The Georgia MLS Monroe County snapshot shows a residential median sale price of $475,000 for September 2026. That's up 41.6% from $335,500 in September 2025 and up 18% from $402,500 in August 2026. It looks like a boom, but the details don't support that reading.
Only 17 homes closed in Monroe County in September 2026, down from 30 in August and 22 in September 2025. With that few sales, a few larger homes or acreage properties closing in the same month can move the median a long way. Total dollar volume actually fell, from $9.6 million in September 2025 to $8.5 million in September 2026.
Inventory is a better gauge. In September 2026, the county had 125 active listings, up from 123 a year earlier and 117 in August, while 48 new listings came on and 23 homes went under contract. At September's closing pace, that's about seven months of supply. Buyers have choices right now.
All of this means the supply decisions above haven't hit the market yet. A moratorium, a five-acre minimum or a denied plat doesn't take any homes off the market this month. These decisions reduce the number of new homes that would compete with existing ones in 2027, 2028 and 2029, which is the same period when the Smarr plant and Buc-ee's are scheduled to be up and running.
Today's market and the coming years are moving in opposite directions. Right now, Monroe County has a relatively deep supply of resale homes and an inconsistent pace of closings, so buyers have room to compare and negotiate. Over the next several years, new single-family construction faces a five-acre rural minimum, stricter subdivision standards and a city council that has favored apartments over an 83-lot plat. Meanwhile, the land with the best access to sewer and the interstate has gone to industrial and data center uses.
As a result, an existing home in or near Forsyth with city utilities, or an established lot under three acres in the county, is now harder to replace with new construction than it was before May 2026. That doesn't guarantee higher prices. Commissioners are still discussing a comprehensive land use plan, and Rowland's tiered-district idea would apply different minimums depending on the distance from I-75. Before you settle on a property, it's worth knowing which zoning district it's in and how far it sits from the interstate.
Is Monroe County's subdivision moratorium still in effect? On May 5, 2026, commissioners rejected a proposal to extend the moratorium until a new land use plan was finished. They then voted on new lot-size and subdivision standards, as recorded in the May 5 minutes.
Does the five-acre minimum apply everywhere in the county? No. The vote raised the minimum only in the Agricultural-Residential district and left the other districts' minimums in the county's development code unchanged. A motion to apply five acres countywide failed 1–4.
Where is the data center site? It's on the west side of I-75 along Johnstonville and Smith roads, inside Forsyth city limits. Council conditions require a 200-foot undisturbed buffer plus a 100-foot building setback, except along the boundaries with I-75 and Collier Road, and they bar data center buildings within 500 feet of homes or churches that were occupied or under construction as of February 2, 2026.
This post covers local zoning decisions as general information, not legal or financial advice. If you're thinking about subdividing land or building on a specific parcel, check the current rules with Monroe County or the City of Forsyth and with a qualified professional.
If you're weighing a house in Forsyth against land out in the county, I can help you figure out how these 2026 zoning changes apply to the specific properties you're looking at. Reach out to Shawn Self and let's connect.
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