The first phase of a proposed Harlem mixed-use development is underway.
In June, Pumpkin Center Properties submitted concept plans for its Greenpoint North, Phase 1 project on its property off Appling Harlem Road.
In 2020, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners approved rezoning more than 800 acres near the Appling Harlem exit along the I-20 corridor, from Residential Agricultural, Light Industrial, Heavy Commercial and Planned Residential Development, to Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning.
Euchee Creek Development and members of the Prather family, alongside Pumpkin Center Properties, had filed the application to rezone the more than 11 parcels near the intersection of I-20 and Appling Harlem. The proposed development would include a variety of both residential and commercial spaces.
“The mixed-use portion of the PUD includes a village commercial and institutional character, with uses similar to the County’s C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial), C-C (Community Commercial), and P-1 (Professional) districts, with the additions of microbreweries and brew pubs,” said planning staff in its report on the original 2020 rezoning request.
The report also noted that the area “includes a variety of residential uses” such as single-family lots, townhouses and courtyard cottages.
The concept plan recently submitted to the county shows 128 lots, including single-family, townhome, quadplex, duplex and commercial lots, as well as six one-acre commercial lots abutting Appling Harlem Highway.
This first phase of Greenpoint North would take up 26 of the 834 acres rezoned for the overarching PUD, three of which would be open greenspace, according to the narrative document accompanying the application.
One of the conditions of the rezoning in 2020 was that any concept plan submitted would include “approval from water utility indicating sufficient sewer capacity is available for the proposed phase.”
Along with the plan and the narrative, the applicants included a letter from Columbia County Water Utility Services to Lionel Prather at Pumpkin Center Properties.
The letter notes that the county currently has approximately 170,000 gallons per day of capacity in the Kiokee Creek basin available on a first come first serve basis, and that Water Utility We assigns capacity when the plan is approved.
The letter also states that the water utility has two upgrades planned for the area to further expand sewer capacity, the first being a sewer force main, expected to be completed in 2024. The second project is the wastewater plant expansion, which has the department estimates will be finished in 2026.
The plan is scheduled for review by the Columbia County Planning Commission in its meeting on Aug. 17. This item is not scheduled as a public hearing, so the matter will not be open to public comments.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
