A proposed planned development near Exit 190 is being returned to the docket for consideration by Columbia County.
Near the end of 2022, Matt Mills, owner of Mill Branch Investments LLLP and executive vice president of Southeastern Development, submitted a request to rezone more than 300 acres off Horizon South Parkway from Residential Agricultural (R-A) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow for a mixed-use development called Branch Springs, projected at the time to take seven to 10 years to build, over six phases.
This was to include a single-family residential community covering 240 acres, a 36-acre commercial district, a 40-acre industrial area, and some 70 acres of greenspace. The development was also to include a roadway through the development, called County Parkway, connected to Gateway Boulevard.
Amid several concerns from the planning staff, such as the effect the project would have on adjacent residential areas, traffic and the amount of school children it would bring to the area, Mill Branch Investments withdrew its application in January of 2023.
Last month, Southeastern submitted a rezoning request for the project again, this time excluding some 126 acres. Now the applicant is seeking to split the property into three tracts—two of which to be rezoned General Commercial (C-2), and the one roughly 17-acre westernmost parcel Light Industrial (M-1), for industrial and commercial development.
The plan still includes a proposed roadway from the northeast portion of the development to its southwest end, this time called “Branch Springs Parkway.”
The planning department, in its staff report on the initial 2022 rezoning request, noted when the application was withdrawn that the developer may have apply to rezone the residential and commercial and industrial portions separately in the future.
The Columbia County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider Southeastern’s rezoning request during its meeting on Nov. 21.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
