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Pickens planning board approves conditional-use permit for Global Year missionary training center
Summary
The Pickens County Planning Commission approved a conditional-use permit for Global Year Inc. to operate a missionary training center on a 14.67-acre parcel in Jasper, limiting the site to two cabins and requiring adherence to erosion and buffer controls.
The Pickens County Planning Commission voted to approve a conditional-use permit for Global Year Inc. to operate a missionary training center at 11178 Henderson Mountain Road in Jasper.
The applicant, Johnny, identified himself as the “president founder of Global Year” and told the commission the nonprofit runs a gap-year program that trains 18-to-25-year-old students before sending them overseas. He said the county site would be used for short training sessions and respite for returning missionaries, not as the full-time residence for students. "The property that we're gonna be using is not where the students are gonna be doing their gap year. It's simply where we train the students for a couple weeks before we send them off internationally," he said.
Planning staff recommended approval with conditions. The staff memo, read at the hearing, described the parcel (Parcel 58028002) as 14.67 acres in a rural-residential character area and recommended limiting site construction to no more than two cabins and compliance with buffer and erosion-control requirements. The applicant said he had submitted a plat and material showing proposed landscaping and that the training cabin would be used only during brief training windows each fall and spring.
Commissioners asked questions about staffing, capacity and site layout. Johnny said typical training cohorts would be about 10 students at a time and that the site would host two short sessions per year. After the discussion, a motion to approve the staff recommendation carried.
The permit includes staff conditions tied to erosion and buffer requirements intended to limit run-off and protect nearby streams; the county stressed it will monitor compliance under its role as the local issuing authority for erosion control.
The hearing record indicates the commission closed CU190683 after the vote; staff noted materials, including the planning commission video and witness testimony, will become part of the official file.
