Augusta signage company Azalea Outdoors is continuing to pursue permission to install a sign at a CSX railway in Evans.
Azalea President Chris Withers first submitted a preliminary billboard application to the Columbia County Planning Department in July, seeking to attain a sign permit on property located along the CSX right of way southeast of the intersection of Club Car Drive and Washington Road. The company intended to erect a 30-foot, 378-square foot billboard on the parcel.
The Planning Department ultimately denied the application after reviewing it. In Augusta, Withers appealed the denial via his legal counsel.
The planning staff’s denial was based on a county ordinance restricting signage of this sort to certain zoning districts. The parcel near the CSX right of way is unzoned.
The Columbia County Planning Commission was initially scheduled to hear the appeal on Oct. 6, but the commissioners voted to postpone the item to Oct. 20, and again to its upcoming meeting on Jan. 5.
The appeal originally requested a variance for the signage, but for the hearing in January Azalea is seeking to rezone the parcel from unzoned to M-1 light industrial.
W.M. Boyd Enterprises is petitioning to rezone its parcel at 4389 Hereford Farm Rd. from Residential to C-1 Commercial. The Evans-based homebuilder intends to construct a 3,600-square foot general office building on the property.
In November the Board of Commissioners, following the Planning Commission, voted unanimously in favor of a petition by Sprach Enterprises to rezone a property at 5520 Hereford Farm Road from single-family residential to special zoning district to accommodate planned office and warehouse space for a drywall and stud company.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
