Planning commissioners' OK could lead to shopping center

Columbia County planning commissioners approved a revision last week for a mixed-use development that could bring a grocery store-anchored shopping center near the corner of Columbia Road and William Few Parkway in 2011.

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Developers asked planning commissioners during a meeting Thursday to allow additional acres for professional and retail use on the development while reducing the residential acreage and number of townhomes from 254 to 142 at 5394 Columbia Road, next to the Ivy Falls subdivision across from Patriots Park.

The 40-acre property was rezoned from residential-agricultural to planned unit development in 2006.

The revised plan showed that about 22 of the 40 acres will be designated for residential development. When initially approved in 2006, plans indicated reserving 36 acres for the construction of townhomes.

More than 10 acres at the site will be set aside for professional and retail projects.

Construction of the townhomes will make up the first phase of the project and could be finished by February, said Lawson Graham, who represents the developer.

Later phases, which developers anticipate completing in the spring of 2011, will include the shopping center and professional building.

The development, dubbed The Patriots Village, will also include several acres of green space.

"I commend you on the nice landscaping," Planning Commission Chairwoman Jean Garniewicz said to Graham. "I feel that's a plus."