Plan shifts landing zone toward west

Gold Cross/AirMed recently received approval to change the location of a helipad at their Wheeler Road location.

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The Columbia County Planning Commission signed off during a Thursday meeting to allow the emergency response company to shift its helicopter landing zone from the east side of its property at 4328 Wheeler Road to the west side.

"In an attempt to be good neighbors, we thought it'd be better to put it there," said Todd Hatfield, AirMed's chief pilot.

Neighbors of the Gold Cross location fought the initial rezoning of the property in February. They complained that the noise and prop wash generated by a helicopter did not fit the character of the area.

The move to the west side of the property moves the helicopter farther away from a neighboring construction company and a proposed soccer field at Adventure Crossing, Hatfield said.

Also at the meeting, planning commissioners agreed to rezone more than 40 acres at the Baker Place Road landfill to improve environmental monitoring at the site.

With the rezoning, all 194 acres of the landfill, owned by the Columbia County Solid Waste Management Authority, will fit into a special district zoning.

County officials started monitoring surface water, groundwater and gases emanating from the site in 1994 to make sure they remained within "allowable guidelines" during a 30-year closing period, according to county records.

County officials want to expand the monitoring program to include the remaining acreage of the landfill. That required a zoning change from residential-agricultural to a special district.

First opened in 1982, the landfill was designed to hold 75 acres of solid waste. After reaching its capacity, the landfill was closed to the public in July 2006.

The planning commission is a recommending body. Final approval for the rezoning must come from the Columbia County Commission, and that likely will take place at its next meeting Tuesday. County officials initiated the 40-acre rezoning.