Jeff Whitten, freelance correspondent

A 3-2 vote by Bryan County Commissioners on Tuesday to approve a request to amend its comprehensive plan for 9.56 acres west of Pembroke illustrates challenges faced by local governments and property owners in dealing with the county’s booming growth.

The request to amend the comprehensive plan’s character area from rural residential to industrial for 9.56 acres off Harvey Road and Highway 280 came from a property owner unable to sell the land and a developer, Southern Metals, LLC, who plans to put in a railroad spur to serve an asphalt plant under development.

The County Commission’s approval came despite a recommendation by its staff that the request for the amendment be denied. Much of the area around it is classified as rural residential in the county’s current 5-year comprehensive plan, which is set to be updated in 2028.

In the meantime, property owner Jenna Harvey told commissioners her family has tried unsuccessfully for years to sell the property.

“We don’t want to have to wait until 2028 for a comprehensive plan amendment,” she said. “That’s why we’re asking for it in 2026.”

Jim Gerrard, a Savannah attorney who represents Southern Metals, told commissioners the family is not only unable to sell the land as it's currently designated, but also can’t develop it without water and sewer, something the county currently has no plans to provide. 

What’s more, industrial growth moving west from the Hyundai plant is changing the nature of that portion of Bryan County, Gerrard said, and the comprehensive plan doesn’t address the impacts.

“The only use of that property that is feasible to achieve the economic goals of the county is industrial,” he said. “Properties there might not be used today for heavy industry, in five or 10 years they are going to be.”

Meanwhile, the land on which the asphalt plant will have in the past been used for both a saw mill and a junk yard, and a solar farm is also nearby.

Community Development Director Audra Miller said the recommendation to vote against an amendment was made due in part to the character of the area and because there was no clear reason or public benefit to changing the comprehensive plan before its next update.

That will begin next year, according to Assistant Community Development Director Amanda Clement, who noted it is “a big public process” that takes roughly 18 months from start to finish.

County officials also said Tuesday the railroad spur can be built without changing the zoning or comprehensive plan, though if cars or materials were stored off the tracks then the property would have to be rezoned.

Southern Metals owner Madison Elliott told the county he wants assurances he’ll be able to use the property before he makes the investment, but said his only plan is to create a railroad spur which would use the entire acreage.  

“There’s no intent for production or industrial usage there,” he said. “We need it for further rail infrastructure and an in and out spur on the same parcel to move a lot of rail cars.”

Gerrard said in asking for the change to the comprehensive plan his client wants to keep his options for the property open, which eventually led to a reminder from County Attorney Aaron Kappler that the matter at hand was whether to approve the amendment.

“Discussion of what the property will be used for in the future is not what is happening here,” he said. “You’re looking at the comprehensive plan as it exists now and whether or not the property in question makes sense as rural residential or industrial.” 

District 1 County Commissioner Alex Floyd, who voted to approve the amendment, said the spur would help reduce the amount of truck traffic on Highway 280, make the transportation of materials to and from the asphalt plant more efficient while keeping potential pollutants further from a nearby creek.

Commissioners Pat Kitzgen and Dr. Gene Wallace voted against the measure. Wallace said he did so because of the recommendation of staff and concerns of impacts on other property owners in the area.

“The community development department, the people we pay to do this job and advise us, recommended we reject the amendment to the comprehensive plan, which they spent a tremendous amount of creating and establishing,” Wallace said. “And then the planning and zoning board voted against it, and I felt like these are two government entities there to give us advice and guidance and I felt like I needed to follow their recommendation.

“And, I had some concern about what could potentially happen to property in the area if this goes through,” he said.

No one has spoken against the proposal, according to officials. 

In an unrelated vote, commissioners approved the rezoning of 12.95 acres on Highway 280 in Blitchton from rural residential to industrial for a proposed warehouse and container storage.

The developer, Interport LLC, will have to enter water and sewer and transportation agreements with the county prior to permitting for the project, and do a survey of the land.