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Effingham commissioners pause Ebenezer historic-overlay effort after residents push back
Summary
After months of public meetings, county planning staff presented a draft Ebenezer Historic Overlay District on Feb. 18. Commissioners and residents sparred over use restrictions, a proposed 70-foot buffer and whether architectural standards would amount to an HOA; the board voted to remove the item and return with revised language.
Effingham County planning staff presented a draft Ebenezer Historic Overlay District at a Feb. 18 workshop and regular meeting, then heard hours of public comment and commissioner debate before agreeing to take the ordinance off the agenda for revision.
The draft ordinance included a mapped boundary around the roundabout and toward Ebenezer Creek, a 70-foot minimum buffer from the street right-of-way, a 26-foot maximum building height and a long list of prohibited uses that staff said came from resident input. "We had our charrette ... and then again, November 14 at Ebenezer Middle School," Planning Manager Chelsea Furnald told the board. "I thought those were very successful, and and definitely gave us a lot of really good information."
Furnald said staff also removed many of the draft architectural standards that originally appeared in the ordinance after strong resistance at the Ebenezer Middle School meeting. "We…
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