County puts brakes on Otis Way plans

Otis Way in Harlem is apparently no longer on the fast track to becoming a Columbia County road.

On Tuesday, Columbia County Commission voted to rescind the dirt road from the county road index two weeks after voting to add it to the list.

"Basically, we approved something at staff recommendation because of an issue with school buses not being able to get down a dirt road at certain times after rains,'' Commission Chairman Ron Cross said.

He said the commission later found that Otis Way is a private road, owned by a homeowners association with the responsibility to care for it.

"So, actually, we made a mistake in taking over that private road to pave it because it's the homeowners' responsibility," he said.

Cross said that doesn't mean the road might not someday become part of the county road index, but the homeowners association will have to "bring it up to certain conditions before we will accept it.''

When the commission voted on the road two weeks ago, the county attorney, Doug Batchelor, was on vacation and a representative from his firm attended the meeting. Batchelor attended Tuesday night's meeting.

"The county attorney pointed this out to us thinking that we were voting on it (Tuesday night), but in essence we had voted on it on the 19th,'' Cross said. "(It was) one of those things that kind of got by because everybody was trying to do their job. We really were pushing it to try to get it ready for the start of school.''

In other action, the commission:

- Heard a presentation from Dr. George Snelling about a plan to build a 77,000-square-foot Academy Sports & Outdoors store across the street from the Mullins Crossing Shopping Center in Evans. He said the store will bring about 140 jobs to the area and will be the largest sports sales store in the area.

- Approved an ordinance that establishes a no-parking zone for students in neighborhoods near Evans High School. Some residents had complained that students were parking in their neighborhood instead of paying for a permit to park at the school. Some students, however, said they weren't able to get a parking permit because it was too late in the school year. Under the ordinance, residents will be able to obtain a hanging mirror tag that allows only them to park in the street.