Jeff Whitten, Correspondent.

Bryan County Commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday night to accept a $500,000 payment from Caesarstone Technologies within five days as part of what the county said is a settlement tied to tax incentives given to the Israeli manufacturer, which closed its doors in Richmond Hill in 2024.

Commissioners Patrick Kitzgen and Wade Price voted for the measure, which also requires Caesarstone to acknowledge its taxes are “due and payable,” the county said. Commissioners Gene Wallace and Alex Floyd voted against the settlement, and Commission Chairman Carter Infinger cast the deciding vote.

Floyd and Wallace said Tuesday night the settlement, in which the company also acknowledges it owes taxes to the county, was “too nice,” to Caesarstone. Split votes requiring a tiebreaker by Infinger are rare in Bryan County.

While some details were sketchy Tuesday night, background information read into the minutes by Wallace at his request referenced earlier agreements in 2013 and 2015 on property tax incentives and deductions involving the manufacturer, the Development Authority of Bryan County and Richmond Hill. It said commissioners didn’t know until it an investigation by the county attorney in July 2024 that the DABC had earlier entered into a “termination of bond” agreement with the manufacturer saying it had “met all of its obligations, and further that property tax incentives and reductions were not subject to repayment, penalty or recapture.”

The settlement announced Tuesday also means Caesarstone acknowledges “that all taxes moving forward will be due and payable,” the county said.

Caesarstone's decision to locate in Richmond Hill at the Belfast Commerce Center was announced in 2013. At the time, the company, which manufactures quartz countertops, reportedly invested around $100 million on the facility and employed up to 180-200 people.

The company began production at the Belfast Commerce Center in 2015. It announced in 2023 it was restructuring and closing its Richmond Hill facility, the company’s first in the U.S.

In other business, Commissioners approved rezoning land in Richmond Hill to pave the way for what could be a “multi-tenant” shopping center on Harris Trail and also held the first reading of a request that could lead to a restaurant and liquor store at the intersection of Toni Branch Road and Highway 204 in Ellabell.

And, Bryan County will begin charging a 3 percent hotel/motel tax on motel rooms in unincorporated areas of the county after County Commissioners approved a change to the ordinance to allow the collection of such a tax beginning July 1. There’s currently one motel in the unincorporated area of the county, but officials expect more.

The approved rezoning of 4.5 acres on Harris Trail across the street from its intersection with Timber Trail came with conditions, including a traffic impact analysis and a requirement the final development plan be adapted to intersection improvements. The county is looking at both a roundabout and a traffic signal at the intersection, and has already funded a traffic study of the site.

The rezoning approval also requires the developer, Tai Nguyen, to maintain access to residential properties nearby. The property’s current owner, William Campbell, and another resident, Steven Griffin, spoke out in favor of the development. Both men noted they are natives of Richmond Hill and want to see commercial investment in the area.

The restaurant and liquor store proposed by Ashok Patel of ZIYA Investments sit on less than an acre on the northeast corner of Toni Branch Road where it meets Highway 204. Commissioners took no action. A public hearing at the May 20 planning and zoning commission meeting and a second reading of the ordinance at the June 10 county commission meeting will follow.

Jeff Whitten is a freelance correspondent for the Bryan County News.