Commissioners approve rezoning of 33.5 acres on Old Augusta Road for light industrial use with screening and access conditions

The Effingham County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a rezoning request by Manning Graham to change roughly 33.5 acres on Old Augusta Road from AR‑1 (agricultural/residential) to I‑1 (light industrial), subject to conditions intended to limit visible and traffic impacts.

The board’s action, taken after a public hearing and a planning‑staff presentation, applies county planning and staff recommendations and additional measures offered by the applicant to address concerns raised about visibility and truck stacking on Old Augusta Road.

The rezoning matters to nearby residents and to county infrastructure planning because the parcel sits adjacent to wetlands and near a privately maintained wastewater treatment plant; commissioners and staff pointed to wetlands, buffers and access as the central issues for approval.

Chelsea Fernald, Effingham County planning manager, told commissioners the application had been received on Aug. 20, 2024 — before the county’s zoning moratorium — and that the county’s future land‑use map projects the parcel for industrial use. Fernald said the planning board recommended approval with the condition that the site be limited to the county’s defined light industrial uses (Effingham County Code of Ordinances section 5.12.0.1) and that warehousing be allowed.

Chad Zittrow of Kern and Company, speaking for the applicant, said the property is under contract to an end user and that, in response to concerns at earlier hearings, the applicant is adding conditions beyond staff recommendations. “We are agreeing to put gated access no less than 300 feet from Old Augusta … so there would be room for four trucks roughly to stack before you get there,” Zittrow said, and “to provide an 8‑foot berm with a 6‑foot tall opaque fence along the Old Augusta corridor for screening purposes.”

Zittrow also told the board the county tax assessor valued the 33‑acre parcel as industrial in 2023 at $3,800,000, which he said was part of the motivation for aligning zoning with assessor records.

Commissioners pressed the applicant and staff on wetlands and buildable acreage. Zittrow said wetlands cover the majority of the tract and estimated roughly 8–10 acres would be usable once buffers and regulatory setbacks were applied. He said the application proposes a trans‑load/vehicle‑storage type use, and that uses such as crushing or heavy wrecking would require separate approvals or conditional use review.

One commissioner expressed concern about potential environmental impacts, saying development adjacent to wetlands can affect water quantity and quality even when permits show no direct wetland impact. Fernald said the rezoning does not authorize a site plan; if the rezoning is approved, the applicant must return for site plan review and any conditional‑use permits required for more intensive operations.

The planning board and staff recommended approval with conditions; the board approved the rezoning motion with one dissenting vote. The formal conditions recorded for the approval include the planning‑staff conditions and the applicant’s commitments on gated access distance and frontage screening.

The applicant and staff noted several follow‑up steps that must occur before development: completion of site‑plan review, any required conditional‑use approvals if the end‑user seeks activities outside the light‑industrial list, and compliance with stormwater and other state and federal permits.

Commissioners scheduled no additional county actions at the meeting beyond the rezoning vote; the applicant will proceed to the site‑plan phase as required by county ordinances.

Sources: testimony and staff report at the June 3, 2025 Effingham County Board of Commissioners meeting; planning board recommendation; statements from Chelsea Fernald and Chad Zittrow.