The Columbia County Planning Commission voted to postpone a rezoning request to accommodate the expansion of a therapy center off Baston Road at its meeting Thursday evening.
Dr. Maria Gangarosa is the proprietor of both Child NeuroBehavioral Center for Health & Wellness on 302 Baston Road, and Amalfi Real Estate and Holdings LLC, which owns the neighboring property at 3535 Stardust Drive in Martinez.
The center provides behavioral healthcare services, primarily to children and their families, but also adults, including veterans with PTSD.
Amalfi Real Estate, alongside the health center’s business manager Roy Emerson, requested to rezone the parcel from R-3 single-family residential to P-1 professional, as well as a variance to reduce side buffers from 10 to 20 feet, aiming to expand the clinic with a 1,200-square foot addition to the back of the house already on the Stardust property and accompanying parking.
The Baston Road property to the west was rezoned P-1 in 1997 for a beauty shop, some 14 years before Gangarosa acquired it for the wellness center.
By the meeting, the applicants had already asked for their requests be postponed to allow time to negotiate with neighboring residents who had expressed concern about the proposed rezoning.
One of the residents, Tiffany Drake, spoke to the commissioners on behalf of several of her neighbors who attended in opposition to the rezoning and variance requests, citing traffic and parking congestion issues that could lead to safety concerns.
“Every lot in our neighborhood is [zoned] residential; nothing is professional,” Drake said to the commission, going on to draw from a petition of citizens who live nearby. “I can’t think of any good reason to put a professional zone inside our neighborhood at all.”
Augusta attorney Wilson Hayes spoke on behalf of the applicants, noting that they had purchased the Stardust Road property to address the parking issues the wellness center already had.
“We believe that the current design would actually alleviate some of the existing traffic and parking problems,” said Hayes, before also asking that the commission postpone the requests so that Amalfi Real Estate could confer with the residents for a possible solution to their complaints.
The Planning Commission unanimously voted to postpone the hearings for the rezoning and variance requests to its March 16 meeting.
The Planning Commission ultimately voted in favor of a new drive-thru lane at the Evans Village Shopping Center at 4408 Evans to Locks Road.
Deep Patel, the young CEO of service station chain Gas World, applied with Evans Plaza Partners for a variance that would accommodate the addition of a pick-up window to Liquor Land store in the building. The concept plan included striped lanes for drive-thru customers.
Evans Plaza Partners, which owns the building, is based in Fort Myers, Florida. Liquor Land is on the southside of the building, neighboring Gold’s Gym and the Georgia Department of Driver Services. The restaurants Cork and Flame and Seoul Korean Kitchen, and Fresh Cuts Barber Shop are on the northern side.
The commissioners voted unanimously to allow for the variance, per the planning staff’s recommendation, with the condition that the existing tree buffer shall be maintained to provide screening of the pick-up window and drive-thru lanes from North Belair Road.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
