Columbia County approves Parker’s Kitchen variance; residents press for traffic safeguards

Commissioners on Tuesday approved a variance permitting Parker’s Kitchen to reduce structural buffer and building separation requirements at property Tax Map 078C Parcel 223 while county staff and the applicant agreed to study traffic-mitigation measures requested by nearby residents.

Neighbors said the planned convenience store and restaurant will increase cut-through traffic through the Arrowhead, Casa Rosa and Casa Linda neighborhoods and asked the county to limit access that could route vehicles into those streets. “What they do is they just come race through the neighborhood … We’ve got animals, people walking animals, and children,” resident Kimberly Johns said during public comment.

The commission’s approval of the variance followed staff testimony that the project reduced a required 30-foot structural buffer to 15 feet and increased a required 100-foot building-corner separation to 54 feet after multiple design changes, including reducing the building footprint and reassigning parking to employee use nearest the residential edge. Commissioners said those changes and the conditions listed in the Planning Commission report of June 5, 2025, formed the basis for approval.

Why it matters: the variance changes how close commercial activity will sit next to…