WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — At least 163,000 people call Houston County home, 24,000 more than a decade ago. People that have been here say they know why the city is desirable to newcomers.
"It's a great place to raise a family. The schools are wonderful, the community is wonderful," Marsha Hall said.
Hall was born and raised here and is part of three generations of Houstonians.
"My dad came here to work on the base, my husband and I met in high school, and we married out of high school, and we raised our children here," she said.
She recalls when one of the city's highways was just a dirt road, but much has changed over the years. Now, there are new schools, new roads, and new people, and with that growth could come challenges, but county chairman Tommy Stalnaker says that growth is an opportunity.
"When you're growing, you got lots of opportunities to deal with. When you're declining, you got lots of problems to deal with," Stalnaker said.
Stalnaker cites schools, low crime rates, jobs, and housing as some things that could catch the eye of a prospective resident. When asked if he had any concerns surrounding growth, he mentioned infrastructure. That includes roads, bridges, water, sewers, and other utilities.
"Does that mean you don't continue to work on infrastructure? Absolutely not. We are continuing to work on it each and every day, and we got stuff planned in the future to accommodate every bit of infrastructure needed to handle that growth," the chairman said.
Hall says what the growth that data seems to show is that, "Houston County is a great place to live," she smiled.