Planning commission OKs rezoning

A proposed major shopping complex for the Pleasant Home and Flowing Wells roads area of Martinez passed muster with the county's zoning board Thursday.

The Columbia County Planning Commission unanimously approved a request by Blanchard and Calhoun Southeast LLC to rezone nearly 33 acres that border the Richmond County line from Residential-2 and Manufacturing-1 to Commercial-2. The proposed development had been tabled by the board twice for the completion and analysis of a traffic study.

The rezoning request will go before the Columbia County Board of Commissioners for final approval Jan. 2.

Developers also are seeking to rezone a portion of the tract which lies in Richmond County. That action has yet to receive approval by the Augusta planning and zoning board and city commissioners.

If approved, the C-2 zoning would pave the way for a big-box development, Columbia County planning staff said.

A traffic study provided by the developers took into consideration a 125,000-square-foot discount store, a 100-room hotel and as many as five restaurants on the site. It would increase traffic by nearly 5,000 vehicle trips per day in the area.

As part of the plan, developers would reroute Scott Nixon Memorial Drive/Pleasant Home Road to intersect with Wheeler Road at Flowing Wells Road, and another road would connect Scott Nixon and Northeast Frontage Road, Columbia County Planning Director Jeff Browning said.

Developers agreed to requests by nearby residents for increased buffers, landscaping requirements, limits on permissible hours to unload stock and lighting restrictions.

Numerous intersection upgrades at Wheeler and Flowing Wells roads also are a condition of the rezoning.

In other business, the planning commission:

- Approved a county-initiated rezoning of 400 acres along Hardy McManus Road from Manufacturing-2 to Residential-1 to make the zoning conform to the actual use of the land.

- Tabled for a second time a request to rezone 61.8 acres at 4935 Hereford Farm Road from R-1 to R-2 Residential Cluster Overlay. The board told applicant Ronald Garnett his request would not be approved and to come before the body Jan. 18 with a proposal with fewer homes on the site.

- Tabled a request for a massive planned-unit development calling for more than 800 houses, apartments and townhomes near the intersection of Baker Place and Chamblin roads adjacent to the county's planned fifth public high school.

Thursday also marked the final meeting for Chairman Tom Sprague, whose term ends Dec. 31.