Commission recommends Bell Farm rezoning but bars garden-style apartment complexes

The Mainland Planning Commission voted 6–0 on Dec. 2 to recommend rezoning multiple parcels near Exit 29/Highway 17 to General Residential (ZM-25-31) for residential development, while adopting a condition intended to prevent garden-style, multistory apartment complexes and preserve townhouse or single-family options.

Stephanie Leaf, planning and zoning director, presented the site near the Winn-Dixie plaza and the recently built Clement Bell Farm multifamily development, explaining that GR zoning allows a range of residential products (single-family, townhomes, duplexes, multifamily) and a theoretical maximum of 10 units per net acre. The developers’ sketch plan showed 169 single-family lots on roughly 47 acres; staff noted that without constraints GR could yield more units (up to ~470 gross before deductions) and that the realistic count would fall after rights-of-way and detention requirements (staff and applicant estimated roughly a 30% deduction when accounting for infrastructure and detention).

Several neighbors spoke in opposition, citing routine flooding and ponding on their properties, wildlife and wetland concerns, insufficient drainage and ditches, and traffic and safety on two-lane roads. Andrea Coleman said, “This area is built in a swamp land... our backyard floods,” and Anna Millison and JR Millison described long-standing ditch and drainage problems they attribute to nearby developments.

Applicant representatives, including Wesley Franks and attorney Zach Harris, responded that stormwater controls and detention will be designed in the civil phase to meet county stormwater ordinances and that easements and conveyance pathways will be evaluated. Harris and a developer representative, John Riehl, said they did not intend to build garden apartment complexes and that they would be amenable to a condition that prohibits apartment-style multifamily while allowing townhouse-style or single-family approaches.

Commissioners debated the legal and technical definition of "multifamily" and whether the MPC could attach conditions to a straight GR rezoning. County attorney Aaron Mufford confirmed conditions are permissible but recommended the MPC vote on the application as presented if the applicant does not agree to proposed conditions; the applicant later stated willingness to accept a condition barring apartment-style flat units. The commission voted to recommend approval with that condition and staff confirmed the case will be heard by the Glynn County Commission on Dec. 18.

Next steps: staff and county counsel will coordinate final condition wording with the applicant before the county commission hearing.