Carla Harrison is concerned about the possibility of a concrete company coming
to her neighborhood, and the Grovetown resident said she’s not alone.
“No one I have talked to is happy about S-1 zoning being inserted in the
middle of our residential area,” said Harrison, who lives on a paved section of Lakeview Drive.
“The county and city need to do better handling all that growth.”
Stephen Cathey submitted a request on Dec. 10 to rezone his property at 1209
Lakeview Drive from a residential agricultural district to special, or S-1, in
order to build an administrative office for his commercial construction
company. The hearing is scheduled on Jan. 6 before the Planning Commission.
The interdepartmental staff report, released on Dec. 30, notes that the
request is ultimately due to a Code Enforcement action after Cathey made an
earlier request for a temporary power permit.
“A further review of the property found an unpermitted structure (two
covered CONEX boxes), as well as storage of building materials and other
construction equipment on the site for an existing concrete wall business which
is currently licensed as a home occupation,” said the staff report.
The report goes on to mention that Cathey then met with county staff and
applied for the rezoning to allow the existing structure to remain and for the
concrete business to expand to the site.
The report also says that Cathey claims he has already been using the
property for his business since 2015. Expansion of the property that is
currently under construction includes a metal office warehouse of over 3,000
square feet. This structure would house four offices for four full-time
administrative employees, a kitchen, a bathroom and additional storage space,
according to the narrative document included with the rezoning application.
That document, as well as the staff report, note that traffic is expected to
be minimal as only the office staff, occasionally with equipment trailers in
tow, would be entering and exiting the site.
The property is on a largely unpaved section of Lakeview Drive, just outside
of Grovetown city limits. The City of Grovetown, says the report, has no comments
or concerns regarding the potential rezoning.
According to the report, the planning staff recommends approval of the
request with the condition that the unpermitted structure must be permitted. In
order to get a permit, an engineered stamped plan must be submitted confirming
the structure meets current codes.
The rezoning request, after it is addressed by the Planning Commission, is
scheduled to go before the Board of Commissioners at its meeting on Jan. 18.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
