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Columbia County approves variance for Parker’s Kitchen; residents press for traffic controls
Summary
The Board approved a variance allowing Parker’s Kitchen to reduce buffer and setback requirements; neighbors raised traffic, safety and litter concerns and developers agreed to consider mitigation including a truck-height bar and paying for speed humps.
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners on June 17 approved a variance allowing Parker’s Kitchen to reduce or remove structural buffer and separation requirements along a residential lot line for property at Tax Map 078C Parcel 223, a move residents said will increase traffic and safety risks in adjacent neighborhoods.
Neighbors urged the board to require traffic controls rather than rely on voluntary measures. “We're gonna have so much traffic down there, we're gonna have to put yellow lines on the streets,” resident Kimberly Johns said, describing large volumes of vehicles, litter and drivers treating neighborhood streets “like a racetrack.” Johns also asked the county to close or limit the site's rear access to prevent the store’s traffic from diverting through nearby streets.
The variance was requested to reduce an existing 30-foot structural buffer to 15 feet and to shorten a required 100-foot separation to 54 feet; staff said the applicant reduced the proposed building by about 1,000 square feet and moved it farther from adjacent residences and will plant evergreens and install a fence. The request was presented with the conditions listed in the June 5, 2025 Planning Commission report. The board's motion to approve the variance carried.
Daniel Ben Israel, real estate development manager for Parker's Kitchen, said the company preferred to keep the rear access open for customers and delivery, but offered mitigation. “We prefer to keep it open, keep the access there,” Ben Israel said, adding the company would consider measures that “we all can live with.” The developer said it will install a truck-height restriction bar to block tractor-trailers and volunteered to pay for speed humps on adjacent streets if the county finds them appropriate.
Commissioners and county staff discussed technical options including a right-in/right-out restriction at the site exit, a raised median ("pork-chop"), speed humps on Casa Linda and other traffic-calming measures. County engineering staff said they would review whether a functional right-in/right-out could be constructed given the existing road width and right-of-way. The developer said installing a substandard median may not be effective but expressed willingness to work with staff and neighbors and to fund traffic-calming measures.
The record shows the board accepted the Planning Commission's conditions and approved the variance. Commissioners noted that post-approval steps could include a traffic study and further county review; staff said they would continue discussions with the applicant and neighborhood to identify feasible mitigation and could revisit additional measures such as speed humps if problems persist.
Neighbors asked for enforcement and policing in the neighborhood; county staff noted existing connectivity of the street network and that emergency access considerations limit outright closures. The developer and staff repeatedly emphasized that some access limitations on state routes (Bobby Jones and Washington Road) are subject to Georgia Department of Transportation permitting and that the site's primary access on those routes may be restricted by GDOT requirements.
The board approved the variance motion and the matter will proceed under the conditions listed in the Planning Commission report and further county-staff direction.
