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Columbia County denies rezoning request for parcel at Autumn Trail and Lewiston Road
Summary
The Board of Commissioners voted to deny a proposal to rezone two parcels near Autumn Trail from residential and C2 commercial to community commercial after residents raised stormwater, traffic and quality-of-life concerns.
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners voted to deny a request to rezone property at the corner of Autumn Trail and Lewiston Road, leaving the parcels’ existing C2 and R1 designations in place.
Doug Thornton, a resident of 5123 Autumn Trail, told the commission he spoke “against the rezoning of May from residential to C2 commercial property” and said more than 185 petition signers oppose the change. Thornton said nearby commercial development has increased “water, noise, light, and physical pollution” and that runoff from a nearby Popeye’s has eroded residential property and polluted Tudor Branch Creek.
Matthew Demeyers, who said he was hired by the owners of 40426 Lewiston Road (Kyoto Inc.) and Susan Hayslip, asked the commission to rezone one residential parcel to commercial and to downgrade an adjacent C2 parcel to community commercial to allow adequate depth for grading and stormwater controls. “Due to the topo concerns, to allow proper access, ADA compliance, and those other issues is the reason that we came in before the council,” Demeyers said.
County planning staff (Mr. Shatner) said the applicants proposed relocating a driveway across from Popeye’s and that the commission could condition approval on a full traffic study. Shatner also described recent stormwater rules, saying, “The regulations require you to retain the first inch of rain that falls on your property. So they’ll have to if this is approved, they’ll have to design to that standard. The first inch of rain cannot leave that site.”
After public comment and brief staff discussion about traffic and drainage, a commissioner moved to deny the rezoning request for Tax Map 068, Parcels 095A and 096. The motion passed; the chair stated, “Motion carries and zoning remains as is.” The board had a quorum of four members present earlier in the meeting.
Why it matters: Residents said approving the rezoning would increase traffic, light, litter and stormwater impacts on Tudor Branch Creek and could displace a longtime resident. The developer argued the change was needed to meet grading and access requirements reduced by the state Department of Transportation’s prior right-of-way work.
The county did not publish a roll-call vote total in the meeting transcript; the minutes record the motion carried and that zoning status for the parcels remains unchanged.
