Development in North Augusta gets second round of censure | Government of the North Augusta Area

For the second time in two years, a proposed townhome development at Exit 1, off Old Plantation Drive in North Augusta, has met with disapproval — this time formal disapproval.

The North Augusta Planning Commission unanimously recommended June 19 that the City Council reject the planned development plan for Moore’s Bluff, even though the project’s housing construction had been cut by more than 15% since it was first listed in May of this year sketch plan was submitted to the previous committee. 2022.

The offices were also demolished and replaced by self-storage.

For clients, it came down to the definition of what a planned development is: mixed use and, for the residential component, different types of homes.

Not just two sizes of townhomes and a storage facility with limited access, they said.

“I don’t necessarily agree that one business next to a particular residential property doesn’t necessarily consider different types – I know this isn’t specifically defined, but my personal definition when I interpret it is that they should be different types of houses – and … putting one commercial project on it and calling it a planned development – ​​it doesn’t fit my definition based on this definition of what a planned development is,” said Commissioner Chelsea Waddell.

“I don’t know if that is also sufficient for planned development in my opinion,” added Commission Chairman Dr. Christine Crawford added.

The previous version of Moore’s Bluff, which was only presented as a concept two years ago, consisted of 170 townhomes and four lots reserved for offices. The plans presented for formal recommendation this week involved 141 terraced houses and one self-storage facility.

As before, numerous residents, many from the adjacent Savannah Barony neighborhood, made their thoughts known in May 2022.

“We are not against general planned development; we are opposed to the developer’s proposal to connect it to the existing community,” Van Monroe said.

The only access to Moore’s Bluff would be from Old Plantation Road, the smaller connecting street that feeds into Savannah Barony with access to Martintown Road via Plantation Drive.

Monroe also claimed that the Moore’s Bluff project was not a mixed-use project, but two separate projects, one residential and one commercial. “It is not free and has no added value for existing residents.”

Many of the 13 people who spoke at the committee on June 19 had the same concerns as those who had spoken about the draft plan two years ago. Namely, the question: why is new development being proposed in this very active corridor before a traffic plan has been put in place to address it?

That was “putting the cart before the horse,” as one resident had said in 2022.

This week, Patricia Kerko insisted that new developments should be postponed until “an acceptable traffic and safety solution is developed.”

Although the traffic study on Martintown Road in North Augusta has been completed for a few years, and although another developer – behind the nearby River Falls Apartments – is funding a traffic light a block away at Martintown and Knobcone Avenue, additional improvements lie in limbo. at least until November.

That’s when Aiken County citizens will vote on the next round of the penny sales tax, the intended funding for what could be a $2.5 million effort to connect Old Plantation Road via Plantation Drive to Martintown , where that future traffic light will be.

Although the commission recommended that the Moore’s Bluff project be denied by the City Council, Commission Vice Chairman Bob Bigger still had to exercise some caution because the property in question was already zoned for some form of mixed-use development.

“If this doesn’t go ahead, there are potential other developments that might be even less attractive (…) if there were some type of office or commercial property that actually generates more inbound and outbound traffic than this than the proposed residential properties,” he said. “Not that that’s a reason to approve it, but (…) I also have to think: ‘If this isn’t the case, what else could be?’ And what other potentially worse consequences there are because of the way this property is zoned.”

Moore’s Bluff will likely come before the North Augusta City Council sometime in July.