The Columbia County Board of Commissioners voted against a rezoning request for a West Lake property that has become controversial.
The request was to rezone 3530 Evans to Locks Road from R-2 (Single Family Residential) to R-1 (Single Family Residential). The request would allow the home, which has a wall a little over 9 feet currently, to have a freestanding wall up to eight feet in height. The current zoning requires the wall to be 3 feet in height.
Brooks Blumenthal, president of the West Lake Property Owners Association, spoke against the rezoning. He said on the neighborhood side of Evans to Locks Road there are no R-1 houses, they’re of the other side of the street and not part of West Lake.
“Other than trying to get approval for a higher wall for the side we’re on, which is think is the primary reason to request the rezone, I’m not sure why the commission couldn’t possibly just issue a variance instead of rezoning the property…the neighborhood is not for the property being rezoned, it’s more something was built that didn’t meet the standards going forward and now after the fact goes back and makes a request for the rezoning.”
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David Huguenin, lawyer for the property owner, said the property is unusual in that it’s outside the gated portion of West Lake. He said there are probably 10 or 12 lots that could have the R-1 zoning due to their size and are not connected to sewer, which R-2 requires. He also said there are several neighborhoods in Columbia County with multiple zonings, including West Lake.
District 1 Commissioner Connie Melear asked how many lots in West Lake are already zoned R-1. Deputy County Manager Matt Schlachter said there are none, but there are R-2, R-3 and PUD zonings.
The Columbia County Planning Commission approved the rezoning request earlier this month with conditions and staff was recommending approval with those conditions.
However, last month the BOC and Planning Commission denied a request by the same homeowners for a variance to allow the height of the wall and size of signs on the property.
Planning manager Will Butler said the reason staff was recommending approval of the rezoning request after the variance request failed in November, was because the rezoning could work, from their standpoint.
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“The biggest thing is that it’s zoned R-2. R-2 is supposed to have sewer. It doesn’t have sewer, so it’s non-conforming,” Butler said. “It’s one of those that R-1 is realistically what it should be. Now, again it was developed a long time ago, it’s kind of meeting current standards. But that was our reasoning. There’s also only a handful of properties in that neighborhood that could meet that requirement.”
With the commissioners voting against the rezoning, the wall will have to be lowered to county standards, Butler said.
“What that means is it’s basically going to be six feet in height on the sides and the rear,” Butler said. “On the front they’ll have to drop it down to either three feet on the front or bring it back and be six feet in height. That’s another part of the process.”
Butler said the property owners could appeal the denial to the courts.
