Upson County denies rezoning request for spring-water harvesting at Crest highway site

The Upson County Board of Commissioners denied a rezoning request on April 14 that would have allowed commercial water harvesting on a 22.86-acre parcel off Crest Highway. The vote followed a public hearing in which dozens of neighbors, local landowners and conservation stakeholders spoke against changing the property’s AR (agricultural/residential) zoning to M1 for water harvesting and bulk truck loading.

Opponents told commissioners the proposal threatened private wells, springs and agricultural uses in the Crest community. “What will this board do should they draw a gazillion gallons of water out there…what are you going to tell those 8,000 people on the water system when you don’t have water to sell?” said Rusty Blackston, a neighbor who identified concerns about aquifer depletion and the county’s long-term obligation to residents on county-supplied systems. Other speakers cited the county’s comprehensive plan and described the requested M1 zoning as spot zoning inconsistent with the plan’s land-use designations.

The applicant, identified in the hearing as Jeffrey Ellington, described a plan to drill one or two production wells near existing test wells, pump spring water to storage tanks inside a 40-by-60-foot building, and load tankers on site. Ellington told the board the loading cycle would take about 18–20 minutes, the on-site…