Commission OKs sidewalk bids for Mullikin, Cox roads

The Columbia County Commission approved bids to construct sidewalks on Mullikin and Cox roads during a Tuesday meeting.

//

Construction should start before the year ends and the sidewalks might be ready for pedestrians as soon as spring, Columbia County Construction and Maintenance Director Scott Herring said.

Beams Contracting bid $94,000 on the Cox Road portion of the project. It will be paid with funds from a general obligation bond. Commissioners will use discretionary funds from a 2001-05 1-cent sales tax to pay for the Mullikin Road sidewalk, which Construction Perfected Inc. bid at $109,000.

Herring said the county saved money on the bids by using the Roads and Bridges Department to do the grading work at the sites.

In other construction news, commissioners voted 3-1 to revise a site plan for a 60-acre parcel at Riverwood Plantation to allow buffers.

Commission Chairman Ron Cross and commissioners Tommy Mercer and Scott Dean voted to add a 100-foot buffer between the site and the Amberley subdivision, a 25-foot buffer at Washington Road and a 50-foot buffer at Cumberland Drive.

Commissioner Diane Ford voted against the change and Commissioner Ron Thigpen abstained.

Developers had intended to clear the forested site and grade it for a shopping center anchored by a Publix grocery store. The buffers were added after complaints by nearby residents.

Also at the meeting, commissioners voted to keep the zoning for an approximately 16-acre parcel on Evans to Locks Road for commercial purposes.

A developer with the intent to build a retirement community at the site backed out, Cross said. Property owner J. Kenneth Davidson Sr. asked not to rezone the land for a planned unit development, Cross said.