facility proposal emerges, utility infrastructure won’t create delays or additional costs for developers. BALANCING STUDENTS, FAMILIES, AND GROWTH Dahlonega faces a unique housing crisis that illustrates the complex dynamics of university towns. With 8,200 college students and only 7,500 permanent residents, the community grapples with housing pressures that go beyond typical supply and demand issues. “We have a lot of pressure on our family neighborhoods where people have bought up houses and turned them into student housing; six kids in the house and too many cars,” Mayor Taylor explains. The University of North Georgia lacks sufficient dormitory space to house even a quarter of its students, creating ripple effects throughout residential areas.“This is kind of a systemic problem in the state of Georgia where they had too many dorm rooms in some communities and not enough in others, so they just put a moratorium on building dorms.” The city is actively addressing these challenges through comprehensive zoning reforms and strategic development initiatives. “Our current code is from 1992, and one of the main drivers behind this zoning work is to make it easier for developers because our code is old and it’s hard to apply 2025 standards to 1992 code,” Mayor Taylor notes. Recent progress includes meetings with developers proposing mixed 61 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 10 DAHLONEGA, GA
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