Grovetown resident urges county to plan mixed-use town center, cites Wrightsboro Road safety concerns

Mike Mills, a Grovetown resident, used the April 15 Columbia County meeting public-comment period to urge county leaders to plan a mixed-use town center west of Little Keoke Creek near the Clair/Calari subdivisions and Baker Place Elementary School.

Mills told the board the surrounding area already contains several thousand houses and lacks shopping, dining or other gathering places. He recommended the county appoint a multidisciplinary commission — including town-center developers, planners, architects, economic consultants and real-estate advisors — to design a smaller-scale mixed-use center, and suggested tools such as tax-increment financing and right-of-way concessions to attract development.

Mills also raised traffic-safety concerns on Wrightsboro Road and at the intersection of Wrightsboro and Baker Place, saying narrow two-lane roads with little or no shoulders increase crash risk near schools. He recounted observing a crash on March 27 and said improvements such as shoulders, additional lanes and safer turn treatments are needed to reduce future incidents.

County planning staff responded during the meeting: Mr. Stocker and other staff said the Riceboro Road/Baker Place intersection is in GDOT scoping and that GDOT has allocated funds for design and construction; staff said the county is updating its comprehensive plan (referred to in the transcript as the Vision 02/1935 plan) to guide growth. Mr. Sterling, identified as the county's planning director in the discussion, offered to meet with Mills after the meeting and invited him to participate in upcoming public meetings on the plan.

No formal action was taken; the exchange was recorded as public comment and staff response.