A proposed major development in Grovetown, to include both a new neighborhood and commercial district, is back on the roster to be considered by Columbia County.
Branch Springs was a project by John S. Mills and landowner Mill Branch Investments LLC, along with Southeastern Real Estate Group, to build a sprawling commercial and residential development near Exit 190.
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In November of 2022, Southeastern submitted a request to rezone more than 300 acres off Horizon South Parkway from Residential Agricultural to Planned Unit Development (PUD).
The new development was to consist of three sections: 240 acres devoted residential lots, most of them single-family, though 17 acres of attached home units; 36 acres devoted to commercial use, and 41 acres for industrial development, split between M-1 Light Industrial and M-2 General Industrial uses. It would also include 70 acres of open space.
Planning staff at the time recommended postponing the project, citing a need to refine elements of the plan and narrative, including its road system, amenity phasing, architectural requirements and street sections.
The Columbia County Planning Commission unanimously voted to postpone the rezoning during a meeting on Dec. 1, 2022, amid both staff’s recommendation and public concerns ranging from traffic congestion to school overpopulation to the impact on animal habitats.
By the time the item was returned to the Planning Commission on Jan. 5, 2023, the applicants had withdrawn the request.
Mill Branch has regrouped, having partnered with Presley Realty Advisors to resubmit the rezoning request and reintroduce the concept. Branch Springs is still planned as a PUD covering the same 335 acres along the I-20 corridor in Grovetown, with mostly residential, but also commercial and industrial sections. Plans for this iteration, however, show some 50 acres of greenspace.
The residential districts, called Sites 1A and 1B, would comprise the first phase of the development, projected in the accompanying narrative document to begin construction next year. Commercial development, Site 3A and 3B, would begin in 2026, and Phase III, called Site 2, would consist of another residential area, would start in 2027.
The Columbia County Planning Commission is slated to consider the rezoning request in its meeting on Sept. 5.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
