The City of Harlem has voted to annex some 736 acres on the edge of its limits.
On May 6, the Harlem Planning Commission voted to recommend categorizing the tract of land along Clary Cut Road under the city’s A-1 zoning, which restricts residential lots to a minimum size of five acres.
The city council meeting in April saw great opposition to the proposed annexation, its rezoning, and the planned development of more than 800 homes on the land, citing a host of concerns ranging from increased traffic to strain on the city’s resources.
That same evening, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a resolution opposing the annexation altogether.
Harlem residents showed up in force again to the Harlem City Council’s meeting Thursday night to see how the city would decide.
“All I’d like to say is we vote for y’all to be in these positions to speak on behalf of us and represent what we want,” said local homeowner Josh Brantley to the council members. “And I just ask that when y’all make this vote tonight, you consider what the people of Harlem really want.”
Another Clary Cut Road resident, Shawn Whitman, vigorously opposed the annexation and proposed new neighborhood, saying that the city “consider[ing] putting a thousand houses is insane to me… I hope you guys think about that and vote against it, because it’s not what anyone moved to Harlem for. Nobody wants it.”
Ultimately, however, the council did vote for it, first in favor of the annexation, followed by a vote to zone the property R-1A, but with a minimum lot size of 2.5 acres. Both votes were 4-1, with Councilman Daniel Bellavance opposing both times.
Some locals found this vote more tolerable than opening the way for a prospective neighborhood full of homes with half-acre lots.
“Most of the people around that area have anywhere from three minimum to 25 acre lots,” said resident David Palus. “But if they would have come in as a half-acre lot, that would have been 2000 cars minimum a day, and the taxpayers would have had to pay for that.”
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
