The rezoning of a portion of a 280-acre tract clears the way for the development of a major warehouse project near the Augusta Regional Airport. If the deal goes through, a 300,000 square foot building will be built on the property.
Members of the Augusta Planning Commission approved a request to rezone 100 acres from Agricultural (A) to Heavy Industrial (HI) at 1550 Four H Club Road.
Ashley Catterton, development service administrator with Augusta Planning, noted that nearby tracts have already been rezoned from A to Light Industrial (LI). The rezoning clears the way to build the warehouse in the vicinity of Augusta Regional Airport.
“The recommended development patterns consist of new businesses and industrial uses encompassing the Augusta Regional Airport and surrounding major highways, interstate interchanges, railroad lines, as well as continued preservation, conservation, and management of significant natural resources and environmentally sensitive areas used for education, recreation, and ecotourism,” she explained.
The rezoned section is directly below Four H Club Road and leaves the remaining 180 acres zoned agricultural. The potential developer of the 300,000 square foot building was drawn to the site by access to the Norfolk Southern main rail line.
“That’s the whole driver behind this property is having a rail service,” Cal Wray, Executive Director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, told ABD.
Wray added that this is one example of why extending the existing rail line and sewer system are vital to developing more areas in South Augusta.
“It opens up industrial, it opens up residential, that opens up commercial, all of which will help the city with revenue flows,” he said.
The identity of the developer was not revealed at the planning commission meeting, but attorney Jim Turner, representing the developer, assured members it was a U.S. company.
“Foreigners are not allowed to own property near airports. It is strictly prohibited now, but this entity looking to do this project is not a foreign-owned entity. It’s a U.S.-based entity,” he said. “There’s a number of HI parcels all the way around there. I’m sure you all are familiar with that area, and we do believe that zoning this for this potential end user is appropriate at this time.”
Wray said, even if this company ultimately does not build the proposed warehouse, rezoning the property makes it attractive for another developer.
“We have a prospect, but it’s in the competitive process, so this was just one more step to stay in competition,” he said. “Without the zoning, it wouldn’t have been considered any further. Long term, it needs to be zoned that way anyway, because it’s got the rail on there, and any user that wants to use rail, they will want the HI zoning just because of the rail cars.”
Wray said, should this prospective developer walk away, AEDA will add the property to its website with the updated zoning. It can then be presented to site selectors for consideration.
The planning commission approved the rezoning request with some conditions that were agreed to by Trotter. There must be a 25-foot buffer from wetlands on the site, and a notice of the proposed project must be provided to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
It is scheduled to go before the Augusta-Richmond County Commission at the Nov. 18th meeting.
