The Columbia County Planning Commission, during its meeting Thursday night, approved the latest draft of Foundations for the Future, the county’s comprehensive plan, or document outlining its overarching vision for development that serves as a kind of blueprint for planning and policymaking.
State law requires local communities to update their comprehensive plans every five years. Last November, Columbia County hired Chicago consulting firm Houseal Lavigne to help draft the updates. The firm kicked off the project this past March, conducting workshops, pop-up events and online surveys to garner input from locals on relevant issues regarding the plan.
Abigail Rose with All Together, a Chicago design firm partnering with Houseal Lavigne on the county’s comprehensive plan project, noted to the planning commissioners that the Foundations for the Future website has attracted more than 2,000 visitors, with 400 people having signed up to get alerts of updates on the plan, and surveys received nearly 1,000 responses.
Thursday afternoon, about three hours before the meeting, Houseal Lavigne and the Planning Department hosted a public open house at the Columbia County Exhibition Center to give locals another opportunity to familiarize themselves with the draft.
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“One of the things that we heard in feedback consistently was that residents of the community really love your parks and your open spaces,” said Rose to the planning commissioners. “So we’ve provided some strategies for maintenance of those into the future, possibly having some connections in there, and then maybe even opportunities for not only preservation, but expansion wherever that is possible.”
Planning Services Division Director Scott Sterling noted at the open house that the updated plan was very similar to its current form, with one of the more significant changes being the addition of Technology and Industrial Character Areas. This includes the Economic Development Authority of Columbia County’s parcel in Appling that will expand White Oak Park and is embroiled in current negotiations about data centers.
In the Character Areas map included in the Land and Development section of the draft, these areas are represented by the color purple. Sterling confirmed that those purple areas don’t necessarily signify prospective data center spots, as Martin Marrietta Materials, John Deere and Georgia Ironworks are among local industries whose locations would be shaded purple on the map.
The Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the draft, effectively forwarding it to the CSRA Regional Commission and then the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for review. Should the DCA approve the plan, the county would schedule a hearing in which the Board of Commissioners would formally adopt it.
Sterling projected that this would occur near the end of January or early February, by which time, he noted, the county must adopt the updated plan in order to be eligible for state funding.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
