Two contentious items withdrawn from the Columbia County Board of Commissioners’ (BOC) docket earlier this year have made their way back for consideration in the coming weeks.
In May the BOC allowed developer Meister & Marban LLC to withdraw without prejudice its request to rezone roughly 10 acres of property at the intersection of Ridge and Washington roads to build a luxury marina and RV storage facility.
Several residents attended the Planning Commission and BOC hearings to oppose the rezoning, largely with concerns that the facility would present a new traffic hazards for vehicles along Ridge Road. The planning staff recommended denying the request, and planning commissioners voted unanimously against it.
Meister & Marban has resubmitted the request with a revised version of the plan. This iteration requests only 7.8 acres of the subject property be rezoned to Special (S-1) zoning, while the remaining 2.7 acres remain Recreational Residential (R-4).
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Responding to the public’s traffic concerns, one of the key revisions to the project according to its narrative document is the installation of only one incoming traffic entrance, on Ridge Road, with all exiting traffic routed to Washington Road.
Before Bijan Solar also successfully requested to withdraw the petition to rezone 39 acres on Columbia Road to build a solar farm, it had endured a similar fate before the Planning Commission: a unanimous vote to deny, in accord with planning staff’s recommendation, amid opposition from neighboring residents.
Bijan Solar and property owner GVS Holdings have brought back the request to rezone 0 Columbia Road from Planned Unit Development (PUD) to S-1. To address residents’ concerns, the narrative notes that “there is no evidence that the property will be impacted” by the development of the solar farm. The document goes on to contend that debris has accumulated at the property due to illegal dumping, and that the landowner has been trying to develop the parcel for several years to no avail because of its terrain and road frontage requirements.
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Both requests are scheduled for consideration by the Planning Commission on Thursday, Sept. 4.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
