Women's Clothing Boutique Near Me Port Wentworth, GA

A city marred by decades of unbalanced growth hires its first economic development director. James Touchton said he's committed to residents' quality of life.

When James Touchton applied to become Port Wentworth’s first director of economic development, one word came to his mind about the city: potential.

Port Wentworth is one of the fastest-growing cities in coastal Georgia and neighbors the fastest-growing port in the nation, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA). The region is poised for massive population growth and investments in the coming years – key ingredients that, if handled properly, can make a city thrive.

“It’s already cooking,” said Touchton. “I want to build an area where others want to come here and they want to experience what we have to offer, too.”

What does Touchton bring to the job?

Touchton has 15 years of experience working with issues related to economic development, policy, government affairs, transportation, planning and zoning and community relations. His previous roles include serving as the longtime director of policy and government affairs for the Council for Quality Growth in the metro Atlanta region and working as a senior policy analyst with the Georgia Senate.

Touchton received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kennesaw State University where he served as the student government president. He’s also been in other leadership roles with Advance Atlanta, the Policy Leadership Institute, Leadership Cobb Economic Development Day Committee and worked to establish the Council for Quality Growth’s Emerging Leaders Initiative.

“I’ve been in the metro Atlanta area for 22 years. I’ve seen the growth, I’ve learned from people smarter than I am, learned the good things and the bad things,” he said.

The experiences have taught Touchton to look at development holistically, an approach that Port Wentworth City Manager Steve Davis said is sorely needed to balance out the growth that has occurred in the last few decades.

“The decision to move forward with this position was due to the increased growth and demand for more commercial development. We have made tremendous progress in redoing our ordinances and internal processes in development services and we needed someone to bring those efforts together with more quality-of-life growth needs in our city,” said Davis in an email statement to the Savannah Morning News.

More:Port Wentworth city planning woes: must redo ordinance, revisit comprehensive plan

More:All work and no play? Port Wentworth residents lack access to recreation, other amenities

What challenges will Touchton face?

Port Wentworth has struggled with industrial encroachment and suburban sprawl for the last several decades. A housing development boom in the early 2000s more than doubled the population, alleviating earlier concerns of people leaving the city due to port expansions. However, commercial amenities and infrastructure improvements have lagged behind.

In the last year, the city government has made moves to try and remedy the issue and drive the city towards the “live, work, play” lifestyle, said Davis.

“Restaurants, medical, banking, events, are all at the top of that list,” said the city manager. “James is going to be the catalyst to bring all of this together and make sure our plans with transit and parks merge well with the future developments that are quickly coming our way.”

The economic development director's role, like most city staff, reports to the city manager. Touchton describes the scope of his responsibilities as learning the city, networking with people and working with developers, elected officials and residents. And, ultimately, “translating all of this information into success.”

More:Play time at last in Port Wentworth? City to add rec complex for north side residents

In his position, Touchton will be responsible for guiding the city’s economic development activities, including business outreach, retention, expansion and recruitment among other duties.

With more than 5,000 new housing units slated to come online in the city in the next few years, growth is not slowing down in Port Wentworth. Larger economic development projects spurring growth in the region will also continue to add pressure on the city’s resources and infrastructure.

Touchton said he looks at the incoming development through a critical lens. It’s more than about "just bringing in money." Growth involves building code enforcement, police and fire, and making sure residents can build their family and have a quality of life while doing so.

With the Council for Quality Growth, Touchton helped push for the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, which infused millions of dollars into the state’s transit systems. As the organization’s previous director of policy and government affairs, he worked with various associations and state agencies to advocate for the bill.

“Partnerships is what I’m a big believer in,” said Touchton, echoing the relationships he’s had to build between government entities and private companies in the past.

More:A city divided: Decades of unchecked growth, backlash put Port Wentworth on the brink

Port Wentworth has had a tumultuous history, marked by years of political turmoil. But working with different personalities while trying to achieve similar goals is a familiar playing ground for Touchton.

“Everyone’s got a past, but it’s learning from that and respecting it. My philosophy is very simple – servant leadership,” he said.

Touchton will be present at city council meetings and encourages residents to reach out. Residents “make this city and make this job,” he emphasized. The economic development director can be contacted at jtouchton@cityofportwentworth.com and 912-724-9202.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lineage Logistics (“Lineage” or the “Company”), one of the leading temperature-controlled industrial REITs and integrated solutions providers worldwide, today celebrated the grand opening of its newest facility in Port Wentworth, Georgia. Savannah Fresh-Port Wentworth is strategically located near the Port of Savannah, the largest single-terminal container facility of its kind in North America and the third busiest container gateway in the U.S.

The 220,000-square-foot facility offers cross-docking services for products to enter and exit the facility on the same day if needed, reducing storage time, creating cost efficiencies, and ensuring consumers receive fresh produce faster. The facility has 23 inbound and outbound lanes that can process more than 40 trucks daily, moving up to 1.4 million pounds of produce per day.

“Today, the demand for port-centric temperature-controlled storage has never been greater and our Fresh solution offerings at Lineage have never been more robust. Savannah Fresh-Port Wentworth will allow us to expand our Fresh offering to new and existing customers and also provides the needed capacity to improve market conditions,” said Jim Henderson, Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development at Lineage. “The opening of this new facility is a critical step for Lineage as we continuously work to reimagine the world’s food supply chain. We are honored to further our long-standing partnership with Georgia Ports Authority and look forward to building our presence in the state of Georgia, an essential hub for trade and innovation.”

For the past two years, Lineage has worked closely with the Savannah Economic Development Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, and the city of Port Wentworth to construct the Savannah Fresh-Port Wentworth facility in addition to its port-adjacent facility on Tremont Road in Savannah. The Savannah Fresh-Port Wentworth project resulted in a $78 million investment alone that created 65 new jobs, bringing Lineage’s total economic investment in Chatham County to over $100 million. To date, Lineage’s footprint in Georgia spans over 3 million sq. ft.

Savannah Fresh-Port Wentworth was designed to address the overwhelming influx in imports of fresh produce to ports in the Mid-Atlantic that lack the space to keep up with the demand. With proximity to the Port of Savannah, the new facility will enable Lineage to deliver larger quantities of fresh produce more efficiently to serve customers across the Southeast.

“With increasing demand for fresh produce capacity in Savannah, this new, state of the art facility is a welcome addition,” said Griff Lynch, Executive Director of the Georgia Ports Authority. “Lineage Logistics’ suite of services, such as cold-retreatment and onsite CBP inspections, will save time, help prevent loss and, ultimately, bring fresh food to market faster.”

Leaders from Lineage, business partners from the state of Georgia, community leaders from the city of Port Wentworth, and leadership from Georgia Ports Authority attended the facility’s grand opening.

About Lineage Logistics

Lineage is one of the leading temperature-controlled industrial REITs and integrated solutions providers worldwide. It has a global network of over 400 strategically located facilities totaling over 2 billion cubic feet of capacity which spans 20 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Lineage has industry-leading expertise in end-to-end logistical solutions, an unrivaled real estate network, and develops and deploys innovative technology. This helps increase distribution efficiency, advance sustainability, minimize supply chain waste, and most importantly, as a Visionary Partner of Feeding America, helps feed the world. In recognition of the Company’s leading innovations and sustainability initiatives, Lineage was listed as No. 3 in the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, named a Deloitte US Best Managed Company in 2022, the No. 1 Data Science company, and 23rd overall on Fast Company’s 2019 list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies, in addition to being included on Fortune’s Change the World list in 2020. (www.lineagelogistics.com)

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (WSAV) – Probable growth coming to Port Wentworth as the city lifted its industrial rezoning mortarium after a year, now allowing for new developments.

But city officials say they know people are worried about over-industrialization, and they believe a newly passed ordinance addresses that.

“The growth has been very uncontrolled for many decades out here,” says Steve Davis, Port Wentworth city manager, “and now we’ll be able to develop clear standards, and – at the end of the day it’s so the public can read and understand what’s coming, and the developers will know what they can and cannot do prior to even making the application.”

What it essentially does is create a uniform standard for developers.

“Now there are going to be clear guidelines for the amount of units, going to clear guidelines on the buffers, the side setbacks, and the setbacks in general,” says Davis.

He tells News 3 that there were not clear guidelines for developers in the past.

“The zoning ordinance has been a hodgepodge for over the last 30 or 40 years and they updated it as it went little by little,” he says, “this is the first major overhaul that we’ve done and basically rewrote the entire system.”

Although there are already areas that have been zoned prior to the moratorium, the new standards will still apply to all developments moving forward.

“There are zoned industrial areas that will be developed, and all we can do at this point is to make sure when they’re built, it’s so they’re built professionally, they protect the residents around them, they’re aesthetically pleasing, that they don’t cut off the connectivity for the residents for the rest of the community.”

Davis says the two major areas that will see construction are the area north of I-95 and downtown, but more for re-development purposes.

The ordinance is now in effect.

The City of Port Wentworth threw a welcoming party for the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Tuesday at city hall, complete with a Groves High School Marching band performance, bounce castles and refreshments.

The celebration was a homecoming.

Port Wentworth will be home to the Ghost Pirates' $25 million training facility, set to be complete in 2025.

The rink will be built within the confines of Port Wentworth’s new 150 acre recreation facility, located at the corner of Monteith Road and Interstate 95. Ground was recently broken on the site, and the full buildout is expected to take as long as three years.

But it won’t just be a training facility for Savannah’s hockey team. The complex will include two regulation-size ice rinks, a sports bar and grill, a pro shop and other amenities.

The site will be a practice rink for the Ghost Pirates and host youth and adult hockey leagues, public figure skating and learn-to-skate programs, some of which will be free to the public, according to Ghost Pirates CEO Andy Kaufmann.

“We’re not in this just because we love hockey. Yes, obviously we love hockey, but we also love the community,” Kaufmann said. “We want this to be for everyone, and we want to make sure that’s what happens here.”

Bringing winter sports to Port Wentworth

The Ghost Pirates are partnering with the city to build the facility on Port Wentworth’s land, but the professional hockey franchise will operate the recreational leagues and community events in the as-of-yet unnamed facility.

That doesn’t mean the city will be totally hands-off, Port Wentworth City Manager Steve Davis said.

“We’re going to coordinate our schedules and share our youth rosters and things of that nature so they can participate,” Davis said. “But what a unique opportunity for this to happen in our community. I can’t even tell you how excited I am.”

Davis also touted the uniqueness of the facility, noting it will be the only true ice sports complex in the region.

“If you want to do what they’re doing right now, you have to drive to Jacksonville,” Davis said.

Hockey in 'hot ol' Georgia'

Port Wentworth's Davis and other city leaders recently visited Jacksonville to tour the Community First Igloo, the home of the Jacksonville Icemen hockey team.

The Icemen play in the same league as the Ghost Pirates, the ECHL, and are owned by the same group that is behind the Ghost Pirates.

According to Davis, The Igloo serves as an inspiration for the future Port Wentworth facility: it's a community recreation center, with public skating, hockey leagues for all ages and summer camps. The Igloo even hosts e-sports leagues.

Davis said he wants the building to fit into the landscape of the park as a whole, and he’s pushing for other buildings at the recreation complex to be built using “the same architectural standards” as the Ghost Pirates' facility. He also said the name of the property would be left up to the public through a naming contest.

Port Wentworth Mayor Pro Tem Thomas Barbee said he was excited about the partnership and what having access to a facility like this one means to Port Wentworth. But he was especially excited about finally getting to try out one winter sport in particular: curling.

“I’ve gotta try it. At least once. I like the guy who has to brush really fast, I think it’s comical, but it’s an interesting game, and I’ve always wanted to try it and see what it’s like,” Barbee said. “But really, it’s an awesome, exciting feeling for not just the city but the citizens."

“Who would’ve ever thought that hockey would be coming to hot ol’ Georgia?” Barbee said.

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (WTOC) - Officials cut the ribbon on a $78 million produce processing facility in Port Wentworth Thursday.

The opening is the latest in a string of economic announcements there.

As Port Wentworth welcomes its newest industrial business, the city is hiring new leadership aiming to manage future investments.

“We want to have good, long-term, quality growth, planned development, that businesses then will look at and say this is why we want to invest in this community,” said Touchton.

James Touchton has been tapped as Port Wentworth’s first director of economic development.

He comes at a time of growth for the city with thousands of housing units expected in the coming years.

“3,000 in the next three years and then 5,000 in five years, already permitted from start to finish, we’re looking at five years.”

Port Wentworth is no stranger to growth and the business boom that comes with it.

Last year, the city put a pause on industrial rezoning applications so officials could rewrite the zoning ordinance.

In recent months, longtime residents say they feel pushed out by industrial building...a concern that Port Wentworth’s city manager says officials take into consideration..

“The biggest challenge that we have is dealing with the traffic. We’ve got multiple state highways that run through Port Wentworth. So, it’s making sure we can accommodate all of the increased traffic in that,” said Port Wentworth City Manager Steve Davis.

Still, Touchton is optimistic saying he looks forward to bringing together the city’s businesses and residents.

“I’m a big believer in respecting the past and embracing the future. So I think there’s a way to blend that. It doesn’t exist without partnerships. It doesn’t exist if we operate in those silos.”

It’s been a busy first few weeks for Touchton.

Of course, the Ghost Pirates announced a new practice facility in Port Wentworth this week.

Among his priorities, Touchton said he wants to help bring more entertainment and public transportation to the city.

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