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Truck stop site approved at 1-16 and 280
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Another truck stop is on its way to the busy Highway 280 and I-16 interchange in Black Creek.

Drayton-Parker LLC plans to put a Parker’s Kitchen truck stop and convenience store on a 7-acre site on the southwest side of the interchange alongside Highway 280. The company owns a 19.45 acre site at the interchange, which is site of the industrial parks Interstate Centre I and II.

Drayton-Parker plans on putting a 128,000 square foot warehouse on the additional 12.45 acres, after Bryan County Commissioners approved the rezoning of the land from commercial to general industrial during a rare Monday meeting. Commissioners, who usually meet on the second Tuesday of the month, added a handful of conditions to the rezoning approval. Those which will need to be met before the developer can start work, officials said.

The conditions including requiring developers submit a final plan to the county for approval, as well as entering agreements with the county on water and sewer, traffic mitigation and getting county approval on the 12 acre site before starting work.

The new Parker’s would sit next to a BP already at the east bound entrance ramp to 1-16.

A new Love’s truck stop opened in June 2020 north of 280 and east of I-16. The new Parker’s will be about a mile and a half west of a Parker’s located at the intersection of highways 80 and 280.

The area, which county officials call the Highway 280 corridor, is rapidly growing and truck traffic heading north on Highway 80 onto 280 from the Savannah port into Blitchton has been increasingly steadily as the port expands.

At the brief public hearing on the rezoning, spokesmen Daniel Ben-Israel of Drayton- Parker and Joshua Cox of Bucket Design Group of Alpharetta said they’ve already submitted a traffic analysis to the Georgia Department of Transportation and have been working with county planning officials.

“We do realize there are some pretty major improvements proposed on Highway 280,” Cox said, adding that the company wants to make sure the project fits in the with DOT plans to upgrade the increasingly busy interchange.

In addition, the county has begun expanding water and sewer in the area to help spur growth in the area, which will make water available for the project as early as 2022. Enmark at 144 spur

Also Monday, county commissioners approved the abandonment of an easement meant in the 2000s to be part of Green Creek Trail, a walking trail near Highway 144. The abandonment came at the request of Enmark, which plans on converting the old Zip N food store at Fort McAllister Road into an Enmarket.

The easement ran in front of the property, which has been in the middle of a construction zone due to the widening of Highway 144 and development of a nearby residential neighborhood.

The easement was never made part of the trail, according to county officials.

During a discussion of the project, Enmark’s Doug Carroll said his company originally planned on “a straight rebuild,” of the original store, but those plans have changed and “we’re going to do a major overhaul.”

Work should get under way soon, he said, and plans call for live oaks on the grounds to remain where they are.

The future of the site at the busy intersection has drawn a good deal of interest from residents in the area, District 3 Commissioner Dallas Daniel said.

“I probably hear more comments on that than anything else.”

Carroll said the new store will include a full deli and will sell marine gas. The COVID-19 pandemic caused some of the delay in finishing the new store.

Also:

First-year Sheriff Mark Crowe will get a bump in pay along with other sheriff’s in similar sized counties, after Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 129 into law in April. That bill raised the minimum base salary for sheriff’s in counties with populations between 39,000 and 49,000 from $79,762.39 annually to $83,750.51.

That will cost the county $4,275, according to county officials and required a budget amendment, which commissioners approved.

Commissioners also approved amending the 2021 budget for no more than $35,000 to repair the Richmond Hill Library roof.

Other items:

The county held the first reading of a request from Ludowici-based Tibet Creek Investors to rezone 48.89 acres at 7309 East Highway 280 near Pevey Road from rural residential to single family residential in order to build a 50-lot subdivision. No action was taken.

Adopted a disaster recovery and public outreach plans funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for coastal communities. County officials have met for about nine months online with officials from the state, Pembroke and Richmond Hill on the plan.

RELATED STORY: Blitchton traffic


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