Jeff Whitten, Correspondent
Bryan County Commissioners approved a number of transportation- related measures on Tuesday, including an update of a 2016 traffic study used to base the county’s assessment of impact fees on developers in South Bryan.
The 2025 study, to be conducted by the Savannah based engineering firm Thomas & Hutton, will cost $128,500 and will be funded with impact fees, county officials said Tuesday night.
The updated study, which will seek to evaluate traffic over a 10 and 20 year period, will cover 15 intersections and two traffic corridors in South Bryan, one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S., according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
“A lot of people say we don’t have plans for the traffic, we’re just reactive,” Commission Chairman Carter Infinger said. “We’re very proactive. We’ve had a plan since 2016 and we’ve been working off that plan.”
So far, the county has collected more than $5 million in residential and commercial impact fees since it was adopted in January 2019, though the measure in part led the Homebuilders Association of Savannah to sue the county a month later. That lawsuit is scheduled to go before the Georgia Supreme Court in May, according to the court’s website.
Commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting noted the growth around the Exit 82 interchange and the Ogeechee Parkway. Thomas & Hutton, which conducted the 2016 study, will look at the corridor of Harris Trail Road from Belfast Keller Road to Brisbon Road and the Belfast Keller Road from Belfast River Road to Highway 144 corridor.
Traffic counts will be conducted at Highway 17 at Belfast Keller; Belfast Keller at the I-95 interchange; Belfast Keller at the Great Ogeechee Parkway; Belfast Keller at Belfast River; Belfast Keller at Harris Trail and Belfast Keller at 144, according to the county.
Traffic counts will also be taken at Highway 144 and the 144 spur; 144 at Port Royal Road; Harris Trail at Port Royal; Harris Trail at Brisbon; 144 at Brisbon; Harris Trail at Timber Trail; Harris Trail at Great Ogeechee Parkway and Belfast Keller at Warren Hill Road.
Officials say the data collected during the study will be used to evaluate whether adjustments should be made to the county’s impact fees, which are $3,241 for a single family home and are based on square footage for commercial and other uses.
Homebuilders, who are also suing Bryan County over its design ordinances requiring higher grade materials, have said the fees have driven up the cost of housing. The county maintains the fees are necessary to help pay for the cost of transportation infrastructure required by new residents.
“It’s a great thing because the cost is not on the backs of citizens living here, it’s paid for by those folks moving in,” Infinger said Tuesday. “Every impact fee project we’ve done has saved residents a lot of money.”
Commissioners also pointed out the importance of abiding by any plans that result from the study, because eventually that can lead to the state taking over maintenance of a road.
OAK LEVEL ROAD ROUNDABOUT AT 144
Though it wasn’t on the agenda Tuesday, Infinger made a point of telling those who might be watching the meeting livestream that work on the roundabout at Oak Level Road and Highway 144 is underway and should be complete in about six months.
OLD CUYLER ROAD
The county will also move ahead with creating a right of way database and plan for the Old Cuyler Road corridor in North Bryan, after commissioners voted to spend $137,000 to hire Thomas & Hutton to develop the database and plan.
Currently unpaved, the road is part of the area around the Hyundai Metaplant and a new I-16 interchange. Early plans call for a three-lane paved road connecting to Highway 80, though planning and work is still in the early stages
RESURFACING PROJECTS
A number of roads, or sections of roads, will be resurfaced and repaired in 2025 after commissioners approved a low bid of more than $1.035 million from Platinum Paving and Concrete, Inc., to do the work. Roads included in the 2025 Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant program round include portions of Devine Street, Channing Drive, Roswell Trail, River Bend Road, Mill Run Road, Steele Wood Drive, Little Creek Road, Sims Road and Stubbs Road.
Bryan County Administrator Ben Taylor said the roads were chosen based on their condition and the goal is to have the work done by the end of the summer. In other business: The County accepted a Georgia Emergency Management Agency cybersecurity grant of some $193,000 for cybersecurity. Most of the money, $166,943.04, will go to equipment, while the rest will go to planning and training, according to assistant county administrator Kathryn Downs.
The County also renewed a contract with Savannah-based First Lady Kitchen to provide concessions at recreation events for 15 months. First Lady Kitchen will pay Bryan County 10 percent of all concession sales.
The completion date of school access roads off Belfast Keller Road was extended to April 7 after delays caused by utility companies and weather.
And a contract was amended with Servus Land Management for right of way mowing due to the consumer price index. The new contract, for $500,641, reflects a 4.4 percent increase in the CPI, Taylor said. The County also:
Approved an $82,500 change order for the North Bryan Courthouse expansion project to add a judge’s chamber, jury deliberation room, additional office space for court personnel and a corridor for access between new courtrooms and the proposed renovated area
. Approved an amended agreement with Hyundai on water and sewer rates based on the addition of the electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant, a joint venture between Hyundai and LG, and which is now responsible for some of the minimum required payments.
Approved a bid of $335.100 from J.S. Haren Company for an emergency generator system and electrical improvements to the county’s well on Oak Level Road. The goal is to have the work done prior to hurricane season, officials said.
Added an additional reduced pressure zone to the county’s regional water and sewer infrastructure. The $95,175 addition is necessary to protect the county’s water supply from backflow and was made necessary due to construction timing and Hyundai’s need for water to test and flush its system, according to the county. Much of the funding will be paid for by state funds, and brings the cost of this portion of the county’s water and sewer upgrades in North Bryan to more than $38.2 million.
Jeff Whitten is a freelance correspondent with the Bryan County News.