Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC) is seeking to consolidate more than 480 acres of property it has acquired over the past few years, with a rezoning request set to go before the Augusta Commission on Feb. 20.
Late last December, Rand Hanna, an attorney with the Hull Barrett law firm, submitted to the Augusta planning department a petition on behalf of ANGC and associated companies (such as Berckman Residential Properties, Brookside West Ventures and RC Eagle, which all share an address with the golf club) to rezone some 53 parcels along Washington and Berckmans roads, Cherry and Hillside lanes, Stanley Drive and Heath Drive.
The golf club already uses the land for a golf course, gift shops and maintenance buildings, parking lots and gift shops. Augusta National’s Chief Property and Planning Officer Robert Geoffroy notes in the petition’s letter of intent that these current uses were “deemed legal, non-conforming,” a “grandfathered term” from when the city adopted its zoning ordinance in 1963.
Most of the tracts are currently zoned Single-family and Multiple-family Residential, with some zoned Planned Unit Development (PUD). The ANGC aims to consolidate all the properties to a B-2 General Business conform to its current uses and “enable [ANGC] to streamline the process for the continuous improvement of the properties to support the Masters tournament,” said Hanna to the Planning Commission during its meeting Monday.
No one opposed the rezoning request, and the planning commissioners voted in its favor unanimously.
Olde Town Augusta also managed to garner a recommendation to rezone one of its properties downtown to General Business. Real estate law firm Trotter Jones applied on behalf of the Atlanta-based company to rezone a parcel that shares three addresses: 602, 608 and 610 Third Street.
The tract is the site of a two-story brick building, which houses the Olde Town Apartments leasing office, and an attached one-story building with siding, presently zoned Multi-family Residential.
Attorney Jim Trotter explained to the Planning Commission that the owners don’t intend to redevelop the buildings, but are trying to prime them for a potential future sale.
“This property has had multiple structures on it for a long time,” Trotter said. “One of them has already been used as a local business, one of them has always been used residential, and we’re just trying to clean up the zoning so that they can possibly maybe be split in the future.”
The commissioners followed suit with the planning staff’s recommendation, voting unanimously in favor of the request.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
