A new Parker’s Kitchen convenience store unwanted by some of its west Augusta neighbors got the go-ahead in a rezoning vote Tuesday by the Augusta Commission.
The commission postponed for two weeks another controversial item, naming the Riverwalk for former Mayor Edward M. McIntyre Sr., after two spoke in favor and one against.
It also delayed taking action on a policy change requiring all employees to use a time clock due to the absence of item sponsor Brandon Garrett.
Augusta Planning Commission recommended approval for rezoning the Wheeler tract from general business to B2 which allows the Parkers Kitchen, among other things, to remain open 24 hours.
The plan includes no semi truck access or housing component and no new access points on Medical Center Drive, Planning Director Carla DeLaney said. Medical Center Drive is an entrance to Doctors Hospital.
When the agenda item was called, 30 people raised their hands in opposition.
Spokesperson Sharon Kaminer said the group had gathered more than 400 signatures on a petition opposing the store.
There are already seven gas stations within a mile and a half and eleven businesses that serve prepared food, Kaminer said.
“Permitting yet another convenience store gas station is a duplication of services and not efficient land usage,” she said.
In addition, the gas station’s storage tanks will be located about 315 feet from a retention pond, Kaminer said.
“Convenience stores are known to attract loitering, drug sales in parking lots and murder,” she said.
Intersection upgrades being planned
Augusta Traffic Engineer John Ussery said while the city doesn’t typically pay for a traffic study for a private business, he’d looked at Parker’s traffic counts and determined they were correct.
The site previously was a bank with drive-through teller windows and an ATM that “did generate a decent amount of traffic,” he said.
About 32,000 vehicles currently pass the on Wheeler site daily, and while the store will likely attract 4,000 visitors per day, most will be traffic already in the area, he said.
The city is “90%” finished with design of intersection improvements which will add second left turn lanes from Wheeler onto Medical Center Drive and onto Augusta West Parkway, Ussery said.
Daniel Ben-Yisrael, real estate development manager for developer Drayton Parker said plans are to complete design and permitting by mid-2024 and open by the second or third quarter.
Commissioner Sean Frantom said the store will be a new, safer alternative to some of the businesses along Wheeler, many of which are already zoned B2.
“We need some new things in that area,” he said.
Frantom said he’d spoken with Doctors Hospital officials and they were “fully supportive” of the store.
Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight, who represents the area and fielded numerous concerns from neighboring residents, made a motion to reject the application. It received no second.
“I’m over there that way every day and it is a nightmare going in all four directions,” McKnight said. “For that particular location, I have to be supportive of my constituents and residents.”
As far as intersection improvements, “we know how it works in Augusta. It’s going to be three or four or five years before something gets done.”
The commission voted 6-1 to approve the rezoning, with McKnight opposed and commissioners Alvin Mason, Wayne Guilfoyle and Garrett absent.
Speakers address McIntyre naming
Rev. James Williams, president of Helping Our People Excel or HOPE, credited McIntyre with conceiving and developing nearly to completion the Riverwalk, co-founding Augusta Tomorrow and founding the CSRA Business League.
“Riverwalk should bear Edward McIntyre’s name not just because he conceived it and raised the money for it but also because of the visionary impact he had,” Williams said.
McIntyre was also Augusta’s first Black mayor, county commissioner and county commission chairman and founded the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, Williams said.
Rick Johnson, CEO of Justice for All, which works to restore the rights of men after they have been in prison, credited McIntyre with getting him a role in Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson’s inner circle.
“One negative act does not ban the man of all his good deeds,” Johnson said.
Speaker Dan Funsch said McIntyre’s federal conviction should keep his name off the landmark. During his first term, McIntyre was indicted for seeking kickbacks and later served a 14-month sentence, after which he was received a pardon.
“The name Augusta Riverwalk perfectly describes this landmark and builds on the city’s brand,” Funsch said.
“God himself commands that we forgive. The same forgetting is perhaps not so true of societies,” he said. “It’s a mistake for communities to turn their eyes away from wrongdoing.”
In other action
In other action, Brenda Durant, executive director for the Greater Augusta Arts Council, provided an update on public arts projects around the area.
The projects include the Sandbar Ferry Road gateway sculpture, for which four artists have been shortlisted, storm drain murals at approximately seven Richmond County schools, the Twiggs Circle roundabout “Golden Blocks” sculpture and two sculptures in the works for Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, Durant said.
