The Columbia County Planning Commission, during its meeting Thursday, voted unanimously to recommend rezoning a Baston Road property to allow Augusta Christian Schools (ACS) to expand.
ACS is seeking to rezone a roughly five-acre parcel at 316 Baston Road — right across the street from the school’s campus — to Special (S-1), to allow for the construction of its new elementary school building. Currently, the school owns and operates a second campus on Furys Ferry for students in kindergarten and first grade.
“We made a pretty large upgrade, the building on Baston Road to the main campus,” said Joe Todd of ACS’ Board of Trustees, referencing before the planning commissioners the buildings added to the campus in 2020, the first phase of further planned development of the school. “One of the biggest challenges is, how do you shut down and how do you tear down a building in May and rebuild it before August? So we’re kind of stuck with some older buildings… It’s not about growing our school numbers. It’s about how do you upgrade facilities?”
ACS Board Chair Terrence Vandiver also noted to the commissioners that the campus expansion would allow the school to enact more efficient safety measures for emergencies.
“Those types of instances are rare, but we want them to be able to get to us quickly, and to have the one school across from the other would be would greatly enhance our ability to protect our children,” Vandiver said.
Neighboring resident Lisa Snowdy was the only attendee to speak against the school’s request, telling commissioners that she approved of ACS’ expansion across the street, but had concerns about traffic, parking and people running across the street during football games.
Todd told the commissioners that the school is prepared to confer with the planning staff and traffic department to address traffic concerns, but wanted to ensure the property was rezoned before moving further with design plans.
Pinnacle Bank approval
Pinnacle Bank got a recommendation for approval in favor of its project to develop a new branch location in Evans during Thursday’s meeting, postponed from its original meeting date on April 3 amid a lack of a quorum.
The Elberton, Ga.-based bank had requested a planned unit development (PUD) revision at its vacant property at 801 Ronald Reagan Drive, and another off Ronald Reagan Drive, totaling about 1.38 acres, to allow 40% of the proposed façade of its proposed 34,000-square foot branch office building to incorporate aluminum storefront or curtainwall glazing to maintain its planned design.
The subject property was zoned PUD in 2004 to make way for the construction of another section of the Marshall Square that was to include retail, office, hotel and convention space. The site has had several revisions since, including a major revision in 2016 to make way for the development of The Plaza at Evans Town Center, the Performing Arts Center and the Market Pavilion.
Amid no one in attendance speaking to oppose the request, and following the lead of the planning department staff, the planning commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the request.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
