After voting to adapt the 2024-2025 budget for Columbia County, the Board of Commissioners went on to approve variances in favor of another proposed Parker’s Kitchen location and an upcoming car wash, both along the Belair Road thoroughfare.
Parker’s Kitchen and property owner Anushazehra LLC sought a variance at 4099 Jimmie Dyess Parkway, near I-20 Exit 194, to operate for 24 hours. There they plan to demolish the former Valero gas station to build a new Parker’s Kitchen convenience store.
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The planning department noted that the site is already zoned C-2 General Commercial, and that a neighboring gas station on Park West Drive also currently operates for 24 hours.
With no one from the public opposed, all commissioners voted to approve the variance, save District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch, who voted to deny.
In April, the BOC approved rezoning 170 South Belair Road from Single-family Residential to General Commercial to make way for a new drive-thru car wash and commercial space. In Tuesday night’s meeting, developers Brandon Graybill and Christian Wahl returned with a request for a variance to allow for its drive-thru pay station design.
As the proposed car wash will be along Belair Road’s Corridor Protection Overlay District (CPOD), normally the county would require any drive-thru areas be placed on the side or rear of a building.
Commissioner Don Skinner, while ultimately voting in favor of the variance request, expressed a “distaste” for the variance request appearing when it did, saying, “I’m approving it, but I don’t want the neighbors behind”—referring to residents of the nearby Highview Acres and Fox Run subdivisions—“to think that I’ve pulled something on them. This should have been presented along with the original request, in my opinion.”
Wahl was present during the meeting, and assured Skinner that the plans for the car wash had been disclosed to the subdivision residents in a meeting, and that the planning staff advised the developers to seek the CPOD variance after the rezoning.
Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to approve the variance request.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
