The Columbia County Board of Commissioners approved sending a letter to Georgia Department of Transportation for project support for widening State Route 47/Highway 221 from Appling to Harlem.
Deputy County Manager Matt Schlachter said the county has been working with GDOT and their Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) on the project for a while. DOT reached out and said if Columbia County can provide the letter of support and some funding, they believe they can do it and fund it.
If they can get a funding for it, then DOT will start scoping it, which Schlacter said is determining what the county needs.
“Once we get the scope, we’ll go into the preliminary engineering of it, actually start the designing the right of way then construction,” Schlacter said.
As for why this project is needed, Schlacter said it’s to help with the growth that is coming to the Appling and Harlem areas.
“We’re seeing growth out there. Harlem is growing, you’re seeing a lot of stuff around the Pumpkin Center roundabout growing, our industrial park,” Schlachter said. “Obviously, the industrial park we want to see if continue to grow. Try to get ahead of that now before the growth and start the project now so before the growth arrives our infrastructure is in place.
Schlachter added that right now there is no project, all that happened Tuesday was the commission approving sending the two letters, one of support and one saying they’ll fund
District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch, whose area includes Appling and Harlem, asked if DOT will work with the multiple entities that will be affected, i.e. the City of Harlem and Board of Education. Schlachter said yes, they will work closely with the entities and public hearings will be held to get citizen input, if the project goes forward.
Other items during the meeting
During the meeting Tuesday, the commissioners approved and presented two proclamations. One declaring April as Native Plant Month and the other declaring April as National Safe Digging Month and reminding everyone to call 811 before they dig.
Commissioners unanimously approved a major revision for 562 Roundtree Way to allow for a preschool to use the property.
Also approved, with conditions, was a major planned unit development (PUD) revision for 2571 William Few Parkway to allow for three single family homes to be built.
In a 4-1 vote, with District 1 Commissioner Connie Melear voting no, the commissioners approved a rezoning for 414 Calloway Road Extension from R-1 (Single Family) to R-2 (Single Family Residential). The approval comes with a list of conditions that have to be followed.
