The Effingham County Board of Commissioners voted in January to rezone roughly 21.73 acres at 2388 U.S. Highway 80 to permit commercial buildings along the highway frontage and a concrete batching operation behind them, approving the request with new, commissioner-added conditions after a lengthy public hearing.

Planning staff described a split-zone plan that designates the front portion B-3 (major commercial) and the rear portion HI (industrial) to accommodate retail/office space up front and a ready-mix concrete plant in back. Applicant representative Neil McKenzie told the board the project now includes specific mitigation measures that were not in earlier proposals: a vegetated berm between the plant and adjacent residential areas, enclosed concrete batching equipment fitted with a dust-control system, paved plant traffic areas and a required traffic study and GDOT permitting for driveway and turn-lane improvements.

“ We accept all of [staff’s] conditions,” McKenzie said, reading commitments from the application. He said the plant would install state-required stormwater and air-quality controls and a dust-capture system he described as industry standard.

Residents who live near the proposed site urged the board to deny the rezoning, citing health and safety concerns. Kathy Sheffield, a nearby homeowner, told commissioners, “Silica, once it’s in your lungs, it’s there forever,” and asked how the operation would dispose of returned or unused concrete and who residents would contact if the plant operated outside agreed hours.

Other commenters described past problems with a different plant on Highway 80 and said they were worried about truck staging, intersection safety and long-term air impacts for children and residents with respiratory conditions.

Commissioners pressed the applicant on technical details. Staff and the applicant committed to: a planted, 25-foot-high vegetated berm (to allow a reduced, 150-foot AR buffer under county rules); a dust-control plan that includes on‑plant baghouse or equivalent capture technology; paved traffic areas and a traffic study to determine and construct appropriate turn-lane length; and a prohibition on on-site crushing of returned concrete. The applicant also agreed to build at least one commercial building up front as part of the initial development and to plant trees on the property’s west side as part of the berm planting plan.

On operational hours, the applicant agreed at the meeting to limit batching operations to Monday–Friday, 5 a.m.–5 p.m., and Saturday 6 a.m.–noon, with no Sunday batching. The board’s motion also requires the applicant to notify neighbors if operations must occur outside those hours and to comply with all state permits, including Georgia air-quality permitting and NPDES/stormwater requirements.

The board approved the rezoning with those conditions; the motion carried with one dissenting vote. Commissioners noted a second reading will be held at the next meeting, and staff will incorporate specific conditions into the final ordnance and site-plan process.

What’s next: the applicant must complete a site plan, secure GDOT driveway approvals and state environmental permits and record any required plats and agreements before operations begin. The board scheduled a second reading of the rezoning and will review permit compliance and site-plan details at subsequent meetings.