Development approval delayed

Confusion concerning some requirements on an Evans property forced the Columbia County Planning Commission to postpone its consideration of the land's plat status Thursday.

//

The seven-plus acres on Hereford Farm Road, zoned as a planned unit development, were under consideration to receive a final plat, which meant construction could have started on the property. Planning official Dave Van De Weghe said developers failed to build a retaining wall at the site, though, which was a requirement of the preliminary plat.

Planning commissioners did hear three rezoning requests, approving two and rejecting one.

Two approved rezonings will allow for a new shopping center on Furys Ferry Road and a senior citizens' community on Evans to Locks Road.

The nearly three acres on Furys Ferry Road, near the intersection of Mullikin Road, were rezoned to neighborhood commercial, which limits the anchor store in the shopping center to no more than 35,000 square feet.

Andrew Allgood, the property owner, said he hopes to attract such tenants as a deli, beauty salon or brokerage to the center.

The retirement community might be built on 16 acres as part of a planned unit development.

The community would include three four-story apartment buildings, independent living facilities and a memory care unit. Three acres of the property facing Furys Ferry Road will keep a neighborhood commercial zoning.

Frank Wilson, the former owner of an outdoor equipment business in Augusta, had wanted to open a similar retail establishment in the one-time site of a post office in Appling.

Zoning officials, however, said the commercial zoning violated the historic nature of the area as outlined by the county's Growth Management Plan.