Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

The order it's going to be Brian County Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustments meeting date April 15, 2025 in Bryan County, Richmond Hill, Georgia. Okay, we're going to go ahead and with the approval minutes, we'll have a motion to approve the minutes. I make a motion second. We all in favor? Everybody read them? Yep. Okay. So forth. Do I have a motion to open the board of adjustments public hearing? Make a motion to open public hearing. Second. Okay. We are in session. We have a vote. All in favor? I. I. Would you like me to get started with the first item? Okay. Primary item on the agenda. Um, so this is a variance for 83 Roundstone Way. Um, this property is located in the Wikllo subdivision. Uh, it is approximately 0.38 acres and is zoned R15. Uh, following a code complaint, uh, staff requested the applicant submit a permit for this accessory building shown here. Um, this is a shed located in the backyard which was constructed without a permit. At this time, staff identified that side and rear setbacks were not being met and the required rear buffer was being encroached into. So, the applicant did submitted this variance for your review. Uh, they requesting three variances to reduce the side setback from 15 feet to 8 feet. uh reduce the rear from 25 feet to two feet and to encroach into the rear buffer which is 30 feet um to a minimum of two feet. Um in terms of the variance criteria, staff did not identify a hardship. The applicant indicated they would have to remove a portion of the shed should the variances not be granted

um which would negatively impact the look of the building and incur a large cost for them. However, staff cannot consider appearance or cost under the variance criteria. Um, additionally, this lot is comparable to other lots within the neighborhood and there is a buffer on the perimeter of these other lots as well. Um, the applicant also identified the lot shape due to its location on a culde-sac as creating a hardship and indicated that meeting the setbacks would make the building look bad and obstruct their views. Uh, staff does acknowledge the property is shaped differently from many others in the neighborhood. However, there are several lots on culde-sacs that are similar, so it's not a unique condition. Uh, additionally, the applicant did construct a pool in their backyard previously. Um, so this did limit the area for further development there. The applicant also indicated they were unaware of these setbacks um when they purchased the property, but they did ask about them when constructing their pool, so they would have had some awareness of these restrictions. Um, staff also identified the building encroachment during that pool review, um, as it was shown on the site plan. Um, and so they would have had awareness from that as well. Staff does not find these variances to be consistent with the UDO. So staff is recommending denial of the requested variances because the criteria are not met and I can answer any questions you have. Can I know I looked this up as reading through the when reading through the packet. Can you remind me what neighborhood this is in? Wikllo. Wikllo. Okay. Thank you. Have this been before us before? No. Quite a few years ago. Not that I'm aware of. No. Okay. We closed the fairly new subdivision off of Belfast River. We closed the a fairly new subdivision on the right off of Belfast. They've been with us a couple times in terms of development houses and stuff trying to build new houses in the subdivision there. I think that was last year. Are there any additional questions? None that I have. Do we have the applicant who was willing to speak?

Good evening. If you'd state your name for the microphone, please. Uh, my name is Kevin Krueger. I'm the resident. Uh, probably the only thing that's a little inaccurate in what she said is the rear setback wouldn't be reduced to two feet. I actually have between four and six feet from my back fence depending on because it's kind of on an angle. So, uh, our whole, you know, reason for putting the shed where we put it was because virtually every house in my neighborhood has a shed in the back rear corner of the property. So, we were trying to keep with it in keeping with the format of the neighborhood. That's why we put it there. Uh, when I had the pool done, I was made aware of the setbacks. And I asked a lot of questions. Apparently, I didn't ask all the right questions because I was told I could put a shed on a slab back there, but I wasn't aware of the square footage limitation. So, if I would have been under 200 square feet, I would have been fine. I'm 280 square feet because I made it a little bigger than that. So, uh plus I had a woman that lives in my house that wanted it to look nice. So, that's why it looks kind of like a little house instead of just your typical garden shed. So, uh, as you can see by the picture I submitted, if if I had to reduce it, I'd have to cut it right through that one window and it wouldn't look so good and and it would cost us quite a bit of money. So, I don't know if you have any other questions. I do. Sorry, I'm losing my voice. Um, did you happen to set u or submit an application to your HOA for this shed? No, because I wasn't aware I needed to. We just got a new HOA uh last year. There's been a lot of turmoil in my neighborhood with the HOA because uh the developer was the HOA until last year and we started this project two years ago and uh halfway through the project we had no HOA. We just voted a new HOA in last October and I was not aware of anything.

In fact, this this whole thing started because I'll say no good deed goes unpunished because I submitted a picture to my HOA of the corner of the shed because I wanted to paint my house the same color so they would match. And uh I got a response back from the HOA as well what is this? I says well it's my shed in my backyard. And then the next day I some lady emailed me saying I need to see your plans and this and I'm like I don't have any plans. It's just four walls and a roof. And I said, "And you're not a qualified engineer anyway. What would you do with those plans? You're going to just see four walls in a roof. Their design review committee has nobody who has any engineering experience at all." I says, "The the the shed is built to code the So, they called the county. The county came out, the inspectors looked at it, and the inspectors didn't find a problem with the way it was built. It was just the fact that it was too big." Thank you. When you said you had somebody advise you that it was okay to place the ship in the location of the property, do you know do you recall who actually told you that? Well, I was downstairs in Texas, I I couldn't tell you by name because I had a lot of questions. Uh when we put the pool in, we we got a permit and that was when we first realized we had these setbacks. We weren't aware of it when we bought the house. And so they explained everything and I'm like, "Well, is there any way you can put anything in the setback?" because the setback makes up like over 8,000 square feet of my backyard. If I were to put my shed in the center of the yard, which is about the only place you could put it, it would look really awkward, uh, because I would have like 30 feet behind it and only like 20 feet to my house. So, we were trying to make things, my wife and I spent the last two years trying to make this property our retirement paradise. And, and this was what looked aesthetically good to us when we put it in. And it seemed like it was like fitting with the rest of the neighborhood because that's where everybody else has their

You guys have any additional questions? Okay. Thank you for your time, sir. I didn't see any speaker slips for this particular We do. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Kevin, before speakers, may I just make one comment, please? Would that be okay? Um guys, I came from 14 years ago from a town that didn't have a lot of HOAs and Richmond Hill is HOA heavy. Um we have great ordinances and what those do is they keep if you drive to other towns, you look at signage, billboards, um disarray, cars in front yards. And so I think what Bryan County does well, although sometimes I think people can see it as an overstep of government, it does keep your town looking really, really clean and nice and uniform. Um, so I know we have a lot of people moving into Richmond Hill um, from other places like myself 14 years ago that may not be aware of county ordinances and HOAs. So, just for the record, I don't know how many people look on Facebook, but you know, we can disseminate this information out, and I see some realators here. That's always a good thing to ask your realtor. You know, can I get bylaws for these HOAs? Um, and every HOA has a architectural design committee. And even if they're not engineers, they have bylaws. Those bylaws usually they've looked at the county ordinances. um what Audrey was talking about earlier, the UDO, the unified development. And again, unified just to keep everything looking nice. Not Steepford wife nice for um us older people that know what that is, but just to keep things looking clean and neat. Does that make sense, guys? I'm sorry I hated to overstep. Mr. Krueger, can you step back up to the microphone quick? I just got a quick question because I know there's there's been a lot of contention about when the HOA started. Yeah. Okay.

When when was this uh when was the actual um shed constructed? Uh it' be about three four months ago. Okay. And at that time was your HOA in existence or I know there's been a recent transition. So the new HOA has been effect. Well, the HOA we voted in the new HOA last October. Okay. And the HOA said you guys covenants to sign because usually HOAs are required a set of dev covenants based upon your location. Um we have covenants. Yes. Okay. And the DRC was voted upon. You guys voted upon the all the covenants of the DRC and the persons on the board. We didn't get a vote on the DRC. That's the whole problem. The the design review committee was not even talked about. It's buried in the covenants. And I had to when all this started, I had to ask them, well, who is on the design review committee? Because I didn't even know who it was. And there's five people on the committee. None of those people have any construction background whatsoever or any engineering background. And and I asked the president, hi says, "What qualifies them to judge if my plans are built to code or anything? I would rather have a county inspector tell me that than this committee that it's they're it's all based on opinion. if they don't like what you have, then they won't approve it. And I have submitted since then, I've had some other things done because I had to have my landscaping repaired uh that was destroyed by the pool and that and I submitted an application to HOA because now and I knew about it, but I didn't know about it when I had this shed built. Okay. Were you were you aware of any structures that required your premises to consult your HOA prior to any structures being built on your on your house on your property? I wasn't aware when I started it. No, I just want that's fine. Sure. Thank you very much. I just wanted to do a timeline. Appreciate you. And just one more quick clarification. Um and Miss Krueger, thank you. We um you know, county ordinances always supersede those HOA, but a lot of times they're lock step. A

lot of times those HOAs will look at what the ordinances say. So, um always always I had a friend I have a friend that works at planning and zoning for the city and I said, "Why do we have to get permits for everything?" and she made the great point to me and I think it's a good point to make here tonight that you have those people engineers that come out and look and say you know okay you could do it a better way um or these are the ordinances and it saves this kind of information um kind of chaos and I hate I hate this for you Mr. Krueger. So, we'll continue to Oh, sorry. I'm not chair anymore. Sorry. Old habit. No, you speak freely. You speak freely. You're right. You're you're you're trust me. You've got everything to speak freely before. So, don't ever apologize. Speaker slips. I know. Don't ever apologize. We want to make sure the information is concise and that's fine. All right, just just to nip this in the bud. Um, do we have a Barry Klein here? Barry, is this are you specifically for this different general one? All right, thank you. Awesome. Got that out of the way. Thank you. All right. Um, we have a speaker slip for Miss Maria G. Ramos. Is she here by chance? Can you please come to the mic? Thank you. And if you can kindly just speak your name, please clearly the mic. Yes, my name is Maria Ramos Hibs. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And I am here uh out of my free will to support my neighbors. And I am glad I came because I see that the address that you have in there is actually my address. 85. Oh yeah, it's 83. Yeah, there they are. 83. I am right next door and I get to see the structure every day and I am for the

structure. It looks beautiful. It is appealing to the eye and is absolutely beautiful. Uh I have known uh Miss Na Miss Susan and Mr. Kevin for two years since they moved into the neighborhood and I can tell you that they are trustworthy and they follow the rules. I have seen how they have a work in their backyard. One time they had a setback. They had to wait for a long time from someone from the county to come and look at it. They did not go ahead. They waited to get the appropriate permits or whatever they needed to do. Not that I was spying on them, but you know, just talking to them and knowing what they were doing. I have a lot of soccer balls in my backyard. They're still there. They're not missing. They're very good neighbors. That's what I'm trying to say. Um, the structure for safety reasons, they have two big gates on each side if somebody needs to get in. And in the rear there is a big open area just in case somebody needs to get in. So I do support that they have their uh their shed in the back. And one of the issues with our uh uh HOA we have had a lot of issues with it in the past. If you drive through our neighborhood uh people have different kind of gates. So, we talked about being organized and everything looking good. And that's when they moving into our neighborhood. I've been in the neighborhood for eight years. And uh now we have a new HOA and they're going they're going to have uh try to enforce the regulations that we have. So, I do thank you very much uh for your time and please know that I look at it from the I have a window on the second floor and I get to look at the their property every day and it looks it looks beautiful. It looks pleasant. It does not look ugly. And one

of the things that if it was bad looking, there is Facebook and I will have heard from about it because my neighbors post complaints. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else here to speak for against that did not fill out a speaker slip? Like comment? Sure. Come on in, sir. Please. Can you have your name for the record? Sure. Sure. My name is Scotty Huber. I'm actually the president of the HOA that joins the property for Belfast Lake to Wikllo. So this property is in the back corner of our neighborhood where the easement is and we are in relations with the new HOA. They have had the owner was of the property at point. They they did not turn over the HOA to the community for a period of time. So I think there was probably a little bit of gap there in some of the regulatory components of the HOA. But madam, you expressed very well that we have rules and regulations, not only from the county perspective, but from the HOA perspective about our setbacks, about what we can do in their neighborhoods. For me, as an adjoining property, this looks like it potentially could set a precedence to say I don't have to follow those rules. I don't have to follow those guidelines as long as I come before the board and I just petitioned myself to say, I'm sorry, I didn't know. and to say that the the board or I'm sorry the uh ARB for the HOA are not a bunch of engineers. So, in my opinion, I feel like we need to abide by the county guidelines, the HOA guidelines to make sure that when we are doing something on our property that we are abiding by those regulations and those laws. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any discussion from anybody?

I feel like I mean we a little here. Somebody else down the road. True. Okay. Yes. I'll close this. You have anything else to say about it? Okay. You're good. Thank you. Okay. We're going to make a mo. Do I have a motion to close this public hearing? Make a motion to close the hearing. Second. All in favor? Okay. We're going to call the vote. Um before this, any other discussion prior to going? Everybody's okay with moving forward. Okay. Do I have a motion to vote? Actually, do I just take a vote? Correct. Okay. Let's take a vote. All in favor? Motion. Making a motion to take a vote on variance project 20250085. It's hard. It is. Make a motion to deny this variance. I second that motion. Okay. All in favor? I All opposed. Okay. Explain to them what happens. If you could Mr. M Krueger, just to let you know. So that variance did not pass. Um so what happens next is you can tomorrow get in touch with the staff and this will um move on up. Um you can appeal this decision that will go to superior court for decision um if you would like to appeal that. Um but if you would like to get in touch with um some of our great staff here tomorrow, they can let you know what to do moving forward. Okay. Sorry this happened. That was a hard one. Yeah. Sorry. Thank you.

Superior. Make a motion. Okay. Need a step to the mic. We're going to make a motion to open next public hearing for variance project 2025 1017 board of adjustment. I make a motion to open the hearing. Second. All in favor? I opened. Good evening. Uh yeah, this is a project for a variance request on a property on Pineriidge Court. This is located on the north end of Bryan County uh in the Lake Lurine subdivision. The request is to reduce both side setbacks from the 35 ft to 25 ft. And this shows you a closer location map here. Now, this property was recorded prior to any zoning ordinance. It was created uh in 1965 in platbook C, page 350. It's lot 34 again of the Lake Lurine subdivision. Um, and currently is zoned RR1 rule residential, which does require those 35 foot setbacks. And you can see the lot is pretty narrow. Uh, so it's only about 100 feet wide in its widest point, which is less than the 150 ft required for the RR1 zoning district. And the applicant is um just planning to build a single family home. So you can see some existing conditions of the site. The site slopes uh kind of down towards the lake at the rear of it. And then you can see it's a pretty narrow lot between um looking in both directions, you can see the house uh over to the uh north there on image one. And this shows their concept plan for the proposed residence. Again, it's has 35 from each side. They are able to meet the 50ft step back from the front and the rear. And they were just requesting the 10-ft reduction on each side, uh which is a total of 28.57%. Um, so with that being said, staff is recommending approval of the requested setbacks variance because the criteria are met under the UDO. Um, and I can answer any questions you may have.

Seeing none. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have the applicant here to speak? Any other speakers for this particular scenario? Anybody who wish to speak on this behalf? Good. At time I make a motion to close public hearing variance project number 2025107. I make a motion to close hearing. Second. All in favor? I make a motion to call to a vote. Make a motion that we approve this variance project 20250107. Second the motion. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Passes. Make a motion to close the board of adjustment and open planning and zoning commission public hearing. Motion to open public hearing for planning and zoning. Second. All in favor? We're open for public hearing. Uh so this is a reasonzoning and variance application um which you deferred last month for um property on Harris Trail. As a reminder, this property is approximately 4.5 acres. Um and they are requesting to reszone from RR1 to B2 for a multi-tenant shopping center. They're also requesting variances due to a planned roundabout. Um and as a reminder, the variances and resoning must be voted on separately and then both those recommendations will move concurrently to the BOC. Um since that meeting, that previous meeting, um the applicant has submitted a revised concept plan reducing those variance requests. And additionally, that planned roundabout is now likely to be a traffic signal instead. Um staff did prepare an

addendum in your package which addresses these changes. Um but they are still requesting those variances just in case a roundabout does end up being the decision that moves forward. Um so right here you'll see their previous concept plan and then this is their revised plan. Um so they have reduced the variance request to two requests. Um one for the streetard and this is the previous request for that streetyard reduction. Um and they were requesting a 20 foot or they're not requesting this 20 foot one anymore. They're requesting the 25- ft, which is what staff had recommended be done as it doesn't require reduction in their street yard. It's just the front setback. Um the rear buffer request they are no longer requesting there. And you'll see this is their previous plan. And so compared side by side, you'll see they're no longer requesting to encroach into that rear buffer. This is the front setback. Um and they have now that's previously from 75 feet to 20 and now requesting 25 feet which is what staff had recommended in their previous variance request as they can accommodate the streetyard in that and it's comparable to the city lots across Harris trail there so it would be consistent and again you'll see the sidebyside comparison there and so they are also still requesting that streetyard reduction for that internal drive um as it's necessary for that access. So you'll see those two variances highlighted there, the front yard setback and the street yard just for that internal drive. Uh they also did submit their original concept plan which didn't include the roundabout. Um so this may be similar to what they would be doing if there were to be a traffic light. Um, and we also wanted to include this to highlight that if you reszone to B2, it does include options such as a drive-through restaurant, which they were originally proposing, um, that they would be able to do under that resoning.

Um, so staff did want to highlight that change to you that could be possible. Um, so staff is recommending approval of the resoning request with the following conditions. That the TIA be finalized and approved by the county prior to any applications for land development or building permits being submitted. uh they would be required to comply with all conditions and improvements of the traffic study. The final design shall incorporate the future traffic improvement whether the roundabout or traffic signal including frontage requirements required by the engineering department. Should the access to the residential parcels on the east side of the property be located within the subject parcel, it must be maintained and shown on any site plan submitted for review. And then in terms of the variances requested, staff is recommending approval of the requested variances because the variance criteria are met. Uh these include reduction of the street yard um from 25 ft to two feet for approximately 176.5 linear feet to accommodate the internal drive and reduction of the front setback from 75 to 25 ft as shown on the concept plan and I can answer any questions you have. I have a question. It may have been in the packet or not. Was this property zoned from city to county in the past few years? No, they had at one point they had gone to the city to try to annex it and that did not go through. So they're back with us. Okay. Thank you. You and I had a discussion earlier that we're pretty much sure that there's going to be a traffic light going. So the BC I believe this month or I mean the previous month approved a study to look at the traffic light. So that appears to be the route they're taking. Our engineering department is going to take now. And I ask this every meeting. Um, as far as G dot, what are our time is there a timeline on um a expansion um of Harris Trail? A widening DOT wouldn't do Harris Trail. That would be a county county and city. Yeah. And is there a timeline on

that? I do not know off the top of my head what the timeline is. Um, our engineering department would handle that. I don't know that there is. Yeah, there's not. I know I ask this every time. Um, I'm thinking somebody will take the hint. There's plans to widen the bridges though. Those are the first major things they want to do. Can answer any additional questions. I know we had called in the past, but we do have the applicant please to speak. Good evening, chair. Good evening, commission. I'm Randy Dykes with MSAC Engineer and I'm representing the applicant. Uh Sarah did a good job explaining how we kind of met with staff and made changes to uh meet their recommendations. Um one of the things I want to bring up that we talked about last time, you know, we feel this is a good use of the property, changing it from residential to commercial. right across the street from it uh are parcels that are already designated commercial in the city or either already has a gas station on it uh across from it. Also, it's at the intersection of you know major highways. So, it's not ideal to build a a house there. We feel like it's ideal to for commercial and um we agree with staff's recommendations and agree with their uh conditions. and I can answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Thank you for submitting the original traffic light study, too. I appreciate that. All righty. Can we have Barry Klein please come? Thank you, sir.

You can state your name for the microphone, please. Yeah, I'm Barry Klein. Um, basically I'm a local dentist. I I sold my dental practice in Pennsylvania about uh three years ago and my wife and I decided to move down to uh down south and we picked Richmond Hill. Uh we were the first first people in the Hartwood neighborhood, which is I think there's supposed to be 10,000 homes at some point. Uh that said, I have four females in my family and they all go and get their nails done and they go to Richmond Hill Nail Salon who the owners of the the Richmond Hill Nail Salon are the ones that are proposing this project. And um from my experience in the nail salon and uh interacting with Tai and Hong, they just great people. Um they they run a fantastic business. It's super clean, uh super efficient. I think they would be a uh an asset to to the community. Uh this type of of business that they're they're proposing. That's about it. Thank you. We got another speaker. Thank you. Perfection. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Certiples. Good evening. Good evening. Happy Tuesday. Um, thank you all for allowing us to come again and speak before you. Um, to talk about this again. for the most part. You know how I feel about it. We talked about it the last time. Um, and I appreciate you holding it over another month. And forgive me, it's

allergy season, so I sound like a toad. So anyway, um, I think we're all suffering around. It's been fun. Anyway, just a couple of things I wanted to highlight. Again, just to remind, um, I live in the property that is adjacent to it, kind of behind it, um, when you look at the plans. And so I'm not for it just because one I think it should not be commercial. I would be for for it being residential um staying residential, but when you start talking about putting a restaurant, a drive-thru and things like that, that just changes the whole just gamut of the rel of of the neighborhood and most of us who live in the neighborhood or the other houses the other houses next to it. um you know it's a safety concern um from a crime standpoint but also from the traffic standpoint and I know there's a study for the for the traffic light but if I heard you correctly you there's still no timeline for a traffic light is that correct I think that I think we're talking about this this go ahead I think that was for the study itself as of right now they're they're everybody's been well aware known on the community page about the traffic lights being preferential because of cost but as of right now, but it's not definitive. Okay. So, that's really up to the county and the engineering at that point. No, the that is Go ahead, Amanda. That is definitive. We were talking about the widening of Okay. So, that is definitive. Well, not definitive on that, but the timeline study. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to say for the traffic lights, what occurred at the board of commissioners meeting this just earlier this month is they went ahead and approved a task order for an engineering firm to start with the engineering and design for the intersection improvements for a traffic light. Um so they've approved that task order so that that engineering firm can go ahead and start that engineering and design work. Um I think the idea is that they can then um get through the design rightway acquisition if needed.

in order to do some capital improvement budgeting for next year to actually install and construct the traffic light once engineering and design is complete. The engineers are saying it could be about a 9 to 12 month process. Okay. I'm happy to hear that there's going to be a light there. So again, I I just prefer that it stay residential. The other piece I still think it's a safety issue. Um and I also wonder about property value. So that's that's my take on it. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Do I have a Miss Margaret Harris Jones as the next speaker, please? Based on the slip. Good evening, Miss Jones. Good afternoon to all of you. Um that was my daughter and she covered practically everything that I would say and my main concern really is a safety aspect with the congestion. The area is already congested and to bring a business in. There is going to be a subdivision right across from Timberland Timber right across from the business on Harris Trail. That's going to bring in more vehicles. Uh going down to Port Royal. Two other areas are under construction and that's going to bring in another influx of vehicles and my main concern is the safety. residents should feel safe and with all that influx of traffic there is a fatality of something will happen and that's one of my

greatest concern and I would like for the property to remain rural residents and I am a descendant the road Harris trail is named after my ancestors so I have a passion for it so we thank you all for your consideration. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Do I have a Steven Griffin? Come up to the mic, please. Please make sure you state your name for the mic as well. Yes. Good evening. How are you? Good evening, sir. I'm Steven Griffin. And uh I guess I want to start off by uh speak about the elephant in the room. We're all from the same tree. Harish Street, same ancestors, born raised in Richmond Hill. So, and um normally uh everything's in sync, but on this subject matter, we have a difference. I think um by the way, the the school is relocating. Uh the uh I'm I'm retiring. I'm not here now. my my my business my my work has taken me elsewhere but I retired next year and I plan to build in Brisbane which I own the property that's adjacent to the property that's uh for sale. Uh there's some talk and I I went I've gotten around try to get a survey from the DOT on the accident frequency at Timber Trail and uh and Harris and and I couldn't get it. But I spoke to some people uh fire department some the accident rate has gone up but it's gone up compared to when it was a country. It's no longer the country anymore. It's it's it's more uh rules quas suburban down where you

got more traffic. The school brought in more cars from Port Royal. There there are some uh communities going up that way, but there is another access to 144 before you even get to the intersection to relieve some of that. Uh furthermore, I just want to speak to uh uh when our uh when the the property became available, it was offered to everybody within the family. No, it was offered to everybody. Well, let me talk. It it was available for everybody in the family that wanted to purchase that land. Okay. To purchase that land. Michael purchased that land a few days prior to them getting a realtor and making it available to the public and he purchased the land. Next, um I made notes on my phone at this time only. Take your time. If I could just take a few seconds, please. You can uh anybody who has not filled out a speaker slip, you will you can still get a chance to speak on behalf or for or against. I will make sure of it. Okay? So, if there's anything that needs to be spoken, especially in reference to anything else to have your voice heard, we will make sure that you can speak once we get through the speaker slips, folks. Just wanted to make that aware. And lastly, just to summarize, uh this process has been going on for about a year now, and the the owner of the property has worked very diligently and very patiently to to uh adjust his design probably three or four times just to make it aesthetically uh good for the community, work within the parameters. I think this is maybe the fourth hearing I've been to where they made an adjustment by the recommendations and he has worked towards that. I've met him, talked to him. I think he'll be a welcome addition to the community and

probably as a business owner be a good partner for the community of of Brisbane, which we call it on Harris Trail. So, thank you for hearing me. Appreciate it. Thank you. We can recognize Mr. William Campbell. Good evening. I'm William Campbell. Say your name, please. I'm William Campbell. William Michael Campbell. I'm the Michael that uh Mr. Griffin has just spoke about. Um we all have lived in Richmond Hill through our We were born in Richmond Hill. I left in 1972. I got married and moved to Baltimore. Um, we all own still own property, even the property that's for sale. We we all own that. Our grandfather, we used to farm the same land that's for sale now. And what he taught us, he taught us some important things. One of the most important things that he taught us was land is valuable, but land can also be used to fulfill gaps. When someone needs something, you sell the land. You share the wealth with your family. And that's what I'm doing with this property. This property is for sale. There's other properties that we all own. My family's house is still on the on the property that my parents bought where I grew up through high school. Um, as I said, our careers have taken us in different paths. As I said, I moved to Baltimore and I taught school for 43 years. I'm retired. I retired in

2014. My plans are to come back to Richmond Hill. something I said when I moved out. I said I would never come back because of the way we did when I we were growing up. Farming, farming, farming. But now Richmond Hill has become a very prosperous prosperous place and it's a place that I see that is growing really fast and I love it. Um all of us, the pros and the cons. If you were to go back to our original people, we all came from the same but the same family members. We all are Harrises. I'm a Campbell because my mother who was Harris married a Campbell. So that's how that part came in. Why I'm a Campbell. Um, we wanted to purchase this. I wanted to purchase this property. And when I found out it was for sale, that's what I did. The property, as Mr. Griffin explained, was open. My aunt and two other people were the people who were in charge of selling this property. This property was offered to one of the Harris uh brothers. he wanted to purchase just a small portion of it in front of the house that um they have there. The stipulation was if you purchase the property, you have to purchase that entire track because once you cut off a portion of that track, then the property is no longer um realized by people. Who wants to buy just a little one piece of property when the whole part of it been cut off? So, he turned it down. When I found out he

turned it down, I spoke to my aunt and I said, "Listen, I like to purchase it." And that's what I did. I purchased this property uh year or two later. That's why I put it up for sale. I put it up for sale to help my family so that we can improve our lives. We were not rich growing up. We grew up thinking we were rich because our parents gave us everything we need, which was food, shelter, and a good education. But as far as having all those amenities that people have now, cars and fancy clothes and stuff, we didn't know that anything about that. Growing up in the country, we had the basics and we loved it. So, what I'm saying is the the nail salon, the restaurant, and everything. I see that as an addition to the community. I see that as something that will help the community prosper even more. Yes, it's a business and as Mr. Griffin said, the school the school is now moving to Belfast. So, the school will not be there. Therefore, the kids the traffic will not be there, the foot traffic. We agreed to change the boundaries so that because we were told that there was going to be a roundabout. So, we went through everything we needed to do to get that okayed, which took a lot of the property away, the front part of the property. So, I think that we have met our burden on showing that the community needs something. And there are no other restaurants anywhere close by. I've heard some people say, "Well, a nail salon. Who needs a nail salon? There's a nail salon farther down

17. There's a nail." As a women, no, you want a nail salon because you go there. We as men, we go there also. We go there for pedicures also. So having something like that, having a restaurant where you can go get a fast meal, a quick meal, the nearest place that you can get a meal from there is down on the corner of uh I don't know the street where where Timber Trail runs out and that's a gas station. If you go any other direction on Harris Trail, that's almost a mile away, it's a little little longer than a mile before you get to more gas stations, but you have to go out on 17 to get to a restaurant just to get some food. And I think that this is a good thing going on and I hope that it goes through and I appreciate your time. Any questions? Questions? Thank you very much for your time, sir. All right. Thank you. Commission recognizes Miss Katherine Johnson. Speaker, please. Good evening. Um, I'm Katherine Johnson and I live uh half a mile from the site. Um, and wanted to just I'm going to try to kind of just run through some bullet points um for why I'm in support of the resoning to commercial use. Um, I used to be a planning and zoning commissioner. So, also I wanted to say thank you for your time and and volunteering for this. I know it's a lot of pressure and a lot of um information. So, thank you. But I was also on the committee um for the UDO and community planning and I know that the blueprint Brian 2045 plan highlights the need to designate areas for commercial

development to serve our growing community. Um I think this is a prime spot for that because there's already commercial um property in that area. There's a lot of neighborhoods um within walking distance that would get a lot of vehicle traffic off the road. Um, I personally walk my dog all over the place in that area now that sidewalks are there. Um, whether it's a light or a roundabout, those all now have to have sidewalks. So, I think it would create a pedestrianfriendly area um for us to have a restaurant or other services to go to. Um, we also are in a critical need for commercial space in Brian County. Um, we have a lot of business owners that would like to open a business in Richmond Hill and Brian County and there's no space available. Um, this is something that I constantly heard about when I was at the Chamber of Commerce. Um, I still have friends to this day that um, are trying to open something, but they would have to go and build something. So, this would be satisfying that need. Um, the proposed site, like I said, is in close proximity to multiple neighborhoods, um, local parks. Um, and this would be a resource for the community that's living there. Um, this would also create um, significantly more tax revenue for the county than one residential property would. Um, and I think that's definitely a goal for the county um, as it grows is to um, take some of that burden off of homeowners um, and and use some of the sales tax and other things that come with having a commercial property. Um, a lot of our community talks about wanting to have more services in the area and less town homes and less homes, um, and people coming in. So, this would also satisfy those complaints. Um, I know there's a lot of concern about traffic. Um, but a small restaurant and nail salon would most likely have modest

traffic and it's spread out and not necessarily um like a school or big box store where you've got high concentration of that. Um, also I know in the past there's been concern about drainage ponds and other things, but a lot of times that helps with flooding um and and are designed in a very specific way to make sure that that property um is working with the other areas in that in that vicinity. Um, this is also a local family. Um, Tai and Hong own a business here. They live here. They own multiple properties here. is not someone that's just um coming to plop this down and don't have an investment here in Brian County. So, um, ultimately, as a resident of Bryan County for 29 years, as the prior CEO of the chamber, I think this is a great addition to our community. Um, I think Brian County really needs to think about how we can connect our residents to our commercial um, and commercial properties and our parks so that people are able to ride bikes and walk and um, enjoy the community that we live in. So, thank you all for your time. Thank you. The chair recognizes Amiel Harris, please. Did I pronounce that correctly? I'm sorry if I didn't. Hi, good evening everyone. Good evening. Okay. Um, I'm coming I'm coming here for you in reference to John Harris property. Okay. John Harris was my grand uncle and his wife was Mary Bush Harris. Okay. John and Mary had three daughters. They were Lula Harris Macyver, Hannah Harris Newton, and Minnie Harris Latson. Dorothy D. Macyvera was the only granddaughter of John and Mary Harris.

Dorothy D. Macyver was mar was not married and never had any children. Her mother was Lulu Maggava. Okay. John, I'll quote this. John Harris died in 1959. Okay. My grand aunt Mary died on August 25th, 1972 and was 90 years old. My grand uncle John Harris was 83 years old when he died. Okay. Aunt Mary and Uncle John had three daughters that died during the period year of 2000 and 2008. Their granddaughter Dorothy Maciva died on December the 9th, 2014, 10 years ago. Okay. John Harris denied selling their land to Henry Ford of Dearbornne mission Michigan when he came to way station in Richmond Hill in 1925 and was purchasing land in brine neck area. All heirs of both John and London Harris was told to never sell their properties. The fault the fraudulent will of Dorothy McViva dated December the 9th, 2014 verify this request too. And item four, residual estate in the enclosed parfes stated that but not including any property over which I may have the power or disposition or appointment. Darth McGyver, grandmother Mary Bush Harris, her mother Lulu Macyver, Hannah Newton Harold, and Minnie Harris lesson signed an order on October the 2nd, 1972 verified this request. Also, this signed order is in the Primro Probate Code of Brian County and it says, "The

only record we have on file for John Harris, who died on August the 16, 1959, is the order declaring no administration necessary. The petition allows for the distribution of the property of the deceased as agreed upon by all heirs. No administration necessary means when an individual has no has not made a will or if the court deems the will to be invalid the estate can be handled through a petition for no administration necessary. The petition allows the distribution of the property of the deceased as agreed upon by all heirs. The petition can only be done when all heirs agree to the distribution of the property. The fraudulent will of Darthy D. Mac Iva, which I saw from the state of Georgia, county of Chadam, has no address of at the attorney name, the law firm's name, the telephone number, nor any aix sealed labor label seal, I mean the stamp seal. The will showed the will shows December 9th, 2014 and witness wear off date which is 7 days prior to the death of our Dorothy. The date from the homegoing service program was Tuesday, December the 16th, 2014 and the burial date was Tuesday, December 23rd. Her will was made 7 days prior to her death. again. She died on December the 9th, 2014. 7 days later, her homegoing service was on December 16, 2014. And 7 days later, burial on December the

23rd. Okay. What I found out from the probate code is this information. The sale dates in this uh deed sales book. Okay. The first date was January the 1st, 1958. that the grtor and the grantee of the will. Okay. Um the it's my understanding and research shows the grantee means someone who receives a grant. The grtor means someone who makes a grant. Okay. As of January the 1st, 1958, the deed book shows the grantee was John Harris. The grtor, no one was listed. Okay. On the next date in the deed book shows October the 2nd, 2017. The grande was Isabelle Williams and Bradley Victor. The grand tour was John Harris. Now John Harris died on August the 16, 1959. Here this deed book date of grantor granting this property to uh is the grantee of Isabelle is 58 years ago prior to the to the transaction. That mean John Harris was deceased and he did not grant this uh petition to Isabelle to sell the land. Okay. On August the 8th, August the 31st, 2023, Isabelle Williams became the grtor and Bradley Victor. The grantee was William Campbell for $30,000. My situation is with that situation here. He is deceased 50 years

ago. is not granting anyone his property and all of a sudden the property is granted. So I am requesting that the illegal sale and ownership of all of John Harris properties in Richmond Hill, Georgia, Brian County be cancelled because of this erranous grantee and grantor deed book information regarding Isabelle Williams, William Campbell and Bradley Victor because John Harris died on August the 16, 1959 and was not living on October 12th, 2017 and August the 31st, 2023 for the $300,000 for William Campbell sale date for partial number 054026. We are requesting that the 4.5 acres and any other sale on all partials belonging to John Harris property which we are not aware of be denied immediately. Please keep our zoning as RR-1 rule residential and all John properties John Harris properties. Both John Harris and London Harris refused and did not accept any welfare payments because of because they were afraid that any someone might be used later to take their properties. We their children paid them monthly. They did also what they would receive for their payments from welfare. They also asked us to not put them in any nursing home for the same reason. William Campbell is not our blood Harris relative and yet is selling the property to another non-blood

relative Harris. Please deny all nonb blood relatives relatives ownership to John Harris properties. So my thing is here my uncle in excuse me guys we have given everyone the respect I apologize chairman. We have given everyone the respect to get up. This lady has lived here her entire life. If she wants to speak for 30 minutes, we're going to let it. No discussion, please, inside this um chamber tonight. Go ahead, Miss Harris. I'm finished with what I have to say. I'm finished with what I have to say. That's okay. Go ahead. You can go ahead. She says what she had to say. Yes, it must be she's ended. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Okay. So, she's trying to contest. So, Miss Harris, I would like to say to you that tonight, um I appreciate all the information that you did give to us and about the legality of the will and the past documents. We would have no jurisdiction over that. Um and so I would ask you to seek guidance of an attorney. But this information was given to me from the Penro Probate Office. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And if he's died 58 years ago, how could he, you know, give someone permission to purchase his land or give them permission? Yes, ma'am. I understand that. And that would need to be um taken to an attorney to have legal action taken, but I appreciate the information and I hope that you guys can find good legal counsel for that. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate you. Just this is not the venue that can can give that sort of dep we we can't make that type of decision to to grant that. I do apologize because I mean, you know, we live in that area, you know, for years

and all of a sudden now it's being given to someone who is not even a Harris blood relative and here he is, you know, 58 years ago deceased, grantee and grtor. John Harris didn't grant, you know, this family his property because he was dead 58 years ago. Oh, we understand 100%. Okay. We're just what we're advising is just definitely seek legal counsel for other for proceedings on that. We consult staff about um if that has been brought up before. Yeah. Has that been brought up in the past at all in terms of that legal proceedings and the validity as to whether or not the transfer is actually We wouldn't have anything to do. Okay. Okay. They would have to she would have to go to Penrook and the court system there, I guess. Fair enough. Okay. Okay. We're all out of speaker. Is there anybody else that wishes to speak upon this matter that has not spoken? Sir, and if you could please state your name. My name is Chris Lane. I'm an attorney with the law firm Winer Weights Greenberg and Shaw. Uh I have examined title to this property in contemplation of the closing of the transaction. Uh there's good marketable title to be had and I do not see issues. We're coming out of multiple orders from the probate court. Um so with all due respect, uh there is good title to the property to be conveyed. So, thank you. Thank you, sir. Is there anybody else that wishes to speak for or against this matter?

Okay. Would anybody like to make a motion? Okay. I guess we're good. Yeah. That a lot. Okay. Okay. I make a motion to uh Wow, that was a lot. I know. I know. I make a motion to close the hearing. Wow. Second. A lot of history. Yeah. All in favor? I Okay, we're closing this motion. Okay. Do I have a motion to take a vote? We're We're voting separately. Okay. So, do I have a motion for the variance first in this matter, please? Need a motion for the resing first. Reszoning first, then the variance. Okay, fair enough. Okay. Would anybody like to make a motion for the reszoning vote? I make a motion to approve the res including staff conditions. Yes. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I would like discussion before we discussion. Yeah. Okay. I just want to say one thing. Um trying to temper my words here. Richmond Hill is a beautiful city. We do not give due respect to the people who are born and raised here. I understand progress. I see a need for commercial walkable spaces. As Katherine Johnson spoke, I'm a newcomer here. I've lived here 14 years. Shouldn't get emo emotional in government business. This is very difficult because I've seen this for

seven years on this board. The people that were born and raised here are getting pushed to the side. It happened in North Brian and it's happening in Richmond Hill. And I understand commercial businesses needed. I understand making money selling property. And I just want to take a moment to just recognize all the people that have lived here, that have been generational families here, that farmed land here, fed people. And I understand when families grow and we have multiple generations and offshoots of family, how difficult this is. So I think before we take a vote, we just needed to say that that this is a very difficult decision. and this will move up to the county commissioners for final um approval or denial. But um that is all I wanted to say about that to the Harris family. Thank you. Okay, we're going to hearken back. So So we had a motion to second. So we're going to be taking this to a vote. All in favor? I. All opposed? Okay. Motion passes. On the second issue of the variance, do I have the motion to what? Anybody make a motion to approve it? I make a motion to approve the variance recommendations. I second. All in favor? I passes. Okay. Motion. Wow. Motion to close the zoning variance pres4833. I apologize. here. Okay. Thank you. I make a motion to open public hearing. Okay. We're going to close the one, open the other. So, going to be opening resoning motion to open. I'm going to do

that again. Reszoning project 2024 128. Do I have a motion to open? Motion to open. Do I have a second? Second. Got to take the vote. Y'all got to take the vote first. All in favor? Sorry, that's a lot to take out. Thank you. Good evening again. This is a request for a reszoning on Rambling Creek Road. Uh this request is to reszone the current property from its current A5 agricultural to the RR1 rule residential district in order to subdivide. And this is located on the north end of the county. And you can see the closer up uh location map here. This is mostly surrounded by all family property and the one family member is essentially selling the two and a half acres to another family member. they would like to subdivide that uh in order to to take ownership and have the subdivision to be recorded. U there is no current proposed development for this property. Uh and you can see the existing zoning map here shows that it's mostly surrounded by other rural residential 1acre uh tracks. Um so this does meet the uh comprehensive plan as well which is in the low density residential which shows the the one unit per acre or less due to the lack of infrastructure which this property has. Uh, and this is a very beautiful piece of property. If you're not familiar with the Rampling Creek area, uh, the property to be reszoned is actually kind of built on a cliff. You can kind of see an image too, just past the tree line where the topography uh, dips down quite a bit. So, it would likely be very difficult for them to ever build a house if they ever wish to on this property. But from everything that's been spoken to us, that is not the plan at this time. Um, and this shows you the total 2.5 acres to be subdivided from their proposed flat. Uh, no additional access is needed because the property line is that paved driveway that they have going across. And, um, staff is recommending approval of the requested reszoning. And I can answer any questions you may have. Any questions on this? Thank you.

Is Mr. Sherling present present to speak? No speakers. Is there anybody for or against the wishes to speak in reference to this? Do I have a motion to close your zoning project 2024 1208? I'll make a motion to close. Second. All in favor? I do I have a motion for vote for or against? I make I make a motion um to approve this reszoning project 20250108. Second. All in favor? All opposed. Passes. Okay. Motion open zoning project 2025 0108. Make a motion to open. I second. All in favor? I thank you. Good evening again. This is a reszoning request on IG linear road. They're requesting to reszone from the A5 agricultural to the RR 2.5 rule residential in order to subdivide an 8acre track that would allow for three additional home sites. This is also located on the north side of Brian County, very close to the Bullet County line. You can see the corner of the property touches the Bullet County line. Um, and you can see the surrounding zoning map here is primarily agricultural lots as well as some other rural residential lots such as the one across the road as well as some non-conforming A5 lots which are just agriculturally zone lots that are less than the 5 acre minimum required. Uh, and this property also lies in that lowdensity residential area which uh supports one acre per one unit per acre due to the lack of infrastructure found in this area. uh which recommends both the A5 district and the proposed RR2.5 zoning district. And you can see the current exist current conditions from these pictures. It's just an undeveloped uh wooded track from both sides of IG linear road both looking towards and

away from the Bullet County line. And looking at the concept plan that they have provided, it's a proposed subdivision for three home sites. Uh no site would be less than 2.5 acres per home. uh that would allow for three additional driveways. This is more than the minimum distance required between driveways on the county road. Uh and engineering had no concerns with this. No lot is smaller than 2 and a half acres. And again, because they reszoning to that 2.5 district, they could not have more than three lots on this subdivision. If they wanted more than three, they would have to reszone to something smaller and that may would trigger the major subdivision uh process for them at that point. So staff is also recommending approval of this reszoning and I can answer any questions you may have. Any questions? Thank you. Any speaker slips? Thank you very much. Anybody wish to speak for or against? I have a motion to close to zoning project 2025108. I make a motion to close. Second. All in favor. Okay. Can I have a motion to vote for or against? Make a motion to approve the uh reszoning project 20250108. I second. All in favor? I motion to close planning and zoning public commission. You've already done that. Okay. Do we have other business? staff. Do we have any other business? No other business. Thank you. Questions, concerns regarding the discussion. Thank you. Just want to make sure that Okay. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Make a motion to

adjourn this meeting. Second. We are closed.