A rezoning request and an accompanying variance request for 3535 Stardust Drive in Martinez returned before the Columbia County Planning Commission in its meeting Thursday evening.
The commission voted on March 3 to postpone the request to rezone the parcel from R-3 single family residential to P-1 professional, to accommodate a planned expansion of the Child NeuroBehavioral Center for Health & Wellness at the adjacent 302 Baston Road.
Planning staff acknowledged the petition’s revised concept plan for the neurobehavioral facility’s 1,200-foot expansion that now includes 10 parking spaces rather than seven, per the recommendation of the staff.
“The expansion that we’re asking for is going to have, I think, a positive impact on the neighborhood, not a negative,” said attorney Wilson Hayes, speaking on behalf of applicant Dr. Maria Gangarosa, addressing concerns neighboring residents brought to the previous meeting regarding the effects of the rezoning and expansion, particularly congested traffic.
Hayes highlighted the plans for the expansion includes plans for design, landscaping and pavement to make the renovated office building look residential.
“We’ve got this revision in the conditions … that if the building ever comes down, it’s got to be replaced with something that looks like it,” he said. “The intention is it’s not going to ever look like a doctor’s office. It’s going to look like a house, and it’s intended to stay that way.”
Nearby resident Tiffany Drake spoke before the commissioners at the last meeting, with several of her own neighbors and a petition of several signatures in tow, to resist the rezoning and variance. She returned to oppose the item again, insisting that while parking and traffic are key concerns of her and her neighbors’, their reason for fighting the rezoning was deeper.
“I want my neighborhood to stay a neighborhood… My husband grew up on that street… my mother-in-law has lived there, [much] of our family lives around the corner and we’ve been there for decades,” Drake said. “I simply don’t want a professional zoned property in my neighborhood.”
Most of the commissioners seemed to sympathize with Drake and her neighbors, while also noting the extra parking spaces would alleviate traffic and parking issues the residents have cited as the crux of their opposition.
“It’s probably not a 100% fix… but I think it’s better,” said Commissioner Michael Carraway. “I think this will clear up some of what you’re dealing with.”
The Planning Commission ultimately voted to recommend approval of the rezoning request, 4 – 1, with only Chairman Al Dempsey opposed.
“Some of those people that live there are third generation family,” said Dempsey about his vote, while also insisting that his fellow commissioners were not wrong for how they chose to vote. “I just couldn’t see disturbing what they’ve had for so long.”
Once the vote on the rezoning request had passed, the commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the accompanying variance request to reduce side buffers from 10 to 20 feet.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
