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Planning board adds truck-and-trailer parking to B-3 zoning and approves truck-parking site on U.S. 80 with buffer
Summary
The Effingham County Planning Board voted June 11 to amend B-3 zoning to allow truck-and-trailer parking as a conditional use and approved a conditional-use permit for parking at a U.S. 80 site with a required 50-foot planted buffer on non‑highway sides.
The Effingham County Planning Board on June 11 voted to add truck-and-trailer parking to the list of conditional uses in the county’s B-3 commercial zoning and approved a conditional-use application to permit a commercial truck- and trailer-parking facility on U.S. Highway 80.
Senior Planner Chelsie Fernald told the board that staff recommended approval of the text amendment to ordinance section 5.11.2 to allow truck-and-trailer parking as a conditional use in B-3. Applicant Greg Coleman said the site, currently used by Georgia Power as a lay-down yard, is under contract and the owner intends to operate local truck- and trailer-parking for port logistics. Coleman proposed site criteria including a minimum 12-acre assemblage, direct access to a truck route and at least 800 feet of road frontage.
Coleman and an agent, Ray Nestlehutt, told the board the operation would mainly house empty containers on chassis and trailers, and they proposed screening measures including an opaque security fence and planted Leyland cypress. Neighbors raised concerns about buffers and stormwater: one nearby landowner said a proposed retention pond’s drainage pattern and buffer widths could affect adjacent uplands.
After asking staff about the county’s standard buffer requirements, the board voted to add truck-and-trailer parking to B-3 as a conditional use and separately approved the conditional-use permit for the U.S. 80 site with the condition that the three sides not facing U.S. 80 be planted with a 50-foot buffer. The motions carried unanimously.
The board noted that development-plan review and state stormwater permits will be required if the site moves forward; county engineering review will address erosion-control and post-construction best-management practices.
What happens next: Items approved by the Planning Board will be presented to the Board of Commissioners as a public hearing on July 16, 2024, where final county approval is required before the use is implemented.
