Oconee County denies special-use permit for contractor warehouse near Silverleaf

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on March 3 denied Special Use P25-0228, a request to allow a contractor’s office, showroom and warehouse with limited outdoor storage on a 5.014-acre parcel at 1691 Jimmy Daniel Road.

County planning staff had recommended conditional approval, citing a revised concept plan that limited building size to 20,000 square feet, restricted outdoor storage to side or rear yards screened by a minimum 12-foot opaque imitation-wood vinyl fence (or freestanding wall), required six‑foot masonry screening for service areas, limited access off Silverleaf Road and established weekday and weekend hours for deliveries. Planning staff and the planning commission both recommended approval.

Applicant representatives said the business is a small, locally run contractor and that the proposal had been revised to increase buffers and reduce visibility from nearby homes. Ken Bell of Bell & Company described design changes including a doubled rear buffer to 100 feet, evergreen plantings near the building, relocating septic drain fields to avoid tree removal and site design intended to keep the building out of view from Silverleaf Road.

But residents who live adjacent to the site urged the board to deny the request. John Mills, a Silverleaf resident, said the applicants had reduced the project’s visible impact from earlier concepts and supported the revised plan. Several other neighbors — including Oscar G., who identified himself as treasurer of the Silverleaf subdivision board — opposed the proposal, arguing it would introduce truck traffic, noise and lighting near a residential entrance and that the requested warehouse use is not permitted in the current agricultural zoning.

Oscar G. cited the county’s zoning code and told commissioners that a warehouse use is not allowed in the agricultural district and described the application as an attempt to circumvent the rezoning process. Bob Hayes and other speakers urged the board to require an impact analysis tied specifically to the unified development code criteria before approving such a use adjacent to neighborhoods. Multiple residents raised safety concerns about the short deceleration lane on Jimmy Daniel Road and the potential for trucks to interfere with neighborhood traffic.

Planning staff responded that an impact analysis had been submitted and reviewed and that Table 2.1 of the Unified Development Code allows contractors with outdoor storage as a special use in the subject zoning if the board finds the special-use criteria are met. Staff also told commissioners that any required deceleration-lane work would be designed and built as part of the project and that exterior lighting would be limited to shielded, down-directed fixtures not to exceed one foot‑candle at property lines.

Commissioners discussed whether the request was effectively an end run around rezoning, whether the site configuration would preclude tractor‑trailer deliveries, and how conditions in a special‑use approval would bind future owners. After board questions and brief rebuttal, a motion to deny Special Use P25-0228 was made, seconded and carried; the board voted to deny the request.

The denial ends the applicant’s request to establish the contractor/warehouse use at 1691 Jimmy Daniel Road under the terms presented to the board; staff said a future applicant could pursue rezoning through the appropriate process.