The Columbia County Board of Commissioners addressed two controversial rezoning requests during its meeting Tuesday, voting down one and allowing another to be withdrawn.
The request to rezone the property at 1803 Appling Harlem Rd. from a residential agricultural district to a general commercial district for the purpose of building a hotel and gas station was unanimously denied after the Planning Commission voted to reject the same request on Nov. 4.
The board voted to allow another rezoning request to be withdrawn. Charleston-based MoRE Development had applied to rezone properties at 4315 and 4299 Owens Rd., behind the Brandon Wilde retirement community in Evans, from planned unit development and single family residential to a planned residential development. The purpose of the rezoning would be for the development of a proposed 174-home subdivision called Owens Village. The request had also been voted down by the Planning Commission on Nov. 4.
Since then, MoRE has requested that it be permitted to withdraw the application without prejudice. Deputy county manager Matt Schlachter explained that “without prejudice” would mean that the application is not only withdrawn, but that the applicants would be able to resubmit the request, or a different request for the property, at anytime and go through the application process from the beginning.
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Were the application withdrawn “with prejudice,” Schlachter also explained, the applicants would be unable to resubmit a request regarding that property for six months.
Several came to speak against the proposed development, including residents of Brandon Wilde and its executive director Jacob Elliot. Former Columbia County commissioner Frank Spears also spoke, urging the commissioners to vote instead to allow withdrawal with prejudice so that MoRE would be forced to take another six months before returning.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Doug Duncan emphasized the challenge of balancing respect for the demands of the community and protecting private property rights.
“A lot of folks can be against something, but people have a constitutional right,” said Duncan. “We don’t take these decisions lightly. But we also respect the Constitution and want to follow it every week.”
The board voted unanimously to allow MoRE Development to withdraw its rezoning application without prejudice.
The board voted to table the issue of its potential agreement with New York-based production company Engel Entertainment regarding filming in Columbia County for a television serious about 311, a free, non-emergency call-in service for information and assistance.
County manager Scott Johnson noted that the matter is being postponed as the county attorney has been working with the production company’s attorney to work out the terms of the contract. The issue was tabled to the Dec. 7 meeting.
The board also voted to approve and amendment to the county’s contract with ambulance provider Gold Cross that would increase their arrive fees. Johnson said this increase would bring Gold Cross in line other contracts and that the new charge would be the fair market rate. The board then voted to distribute a 2% lump sum merit payment to the county’s eligible employees by Jan. 1, 2022.
Both these matters were discussed during the board’s Nov. 7 meeting in Athens.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
