Columbia County planning panel backs two massage licenses, a provisional home occupation and two temporary housing authorizations for disaster-relief volunteers

The Columbia County Planning Commission on an evening meeting recommended approval of two massage-operator licenses, a provisional home-occupation permit for Haffec LLC at 555 Catherine Place and two temporary use authorizations to place travel trailers on church property to house disaster-relief volunteers. The commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Columbia County Board of Commissioners for final action on Feb. 18, 2025.

The actions center on short-term housing for volunteers helping with disaster recovery and on a small business storage request. Planning staff told the commission both massage-license applicants met the requirements of the county ordinance governing such permits and recommended approval. For the home-occupation request staff said the applicant proposed to use about 40% of an accessory barn for equipment storage, which staff said complies with the square-footage limit for provisional accessory-building storage. Staff recommended approval of the temporary use requests for four travel trailers at each site, noting trailers would be connected to power and to the existing septic systems and that each authorization would be valid for up to one year though the applicants expect to need them roughly five to six months.

The two massage licenses were for Massage Server LLC, listed at 4408…