By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
City council nixes zoning request
Charles Frasier
Charles Frasier
Following a recommendation by the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission, on Thursday the Hinesville City Council voted against allowing the rezoning of property along a tributary of Mill Creek from residential to commercial.
Property owner Yong Lee requested to rezone the property from R-2 (single family residential district) to C-2 (general commercial district) to create a storage facility for his wrecker services and to build a four-suite commercial building on the tract.
Planning commission representatives expressed concerns to Lee and later to council members that storing vehicles on the property might pose a threat to stormwater systems; specifically, automotive fluids leaking from vehicles on the property might leach into the stormwater system.
Lee’s land is near Hollywood Drive in a 100-year flood plain and is surrounded by a canal and two ponds.
A drainage ordinance requires engineering plans for commercial development under such conditions to demonstrate how pollutants would be kept out of the stormwater systems, as well as how drainage would not be restricted or diminished by commercial activities.
Lee was not at the council meeting, but Jerry Strickland, a mobile home park owner whose land sits adjacent to Lee’s, spoke out against the rezoning.
Strickland said when he gets ready to sell his property, “I don’t want the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] to come in and … tell me to do a cleanup.”
The planning commission’s recommendation to Lee has been to develop the property as a residential location.
In other meeting news, Mayor Pro Tem Charles Frasier was selected to represent Hinesville on the Liberty County Water Planning Council. The council’s primary focus will be to assess the state of the area’s water use and management and develop recommendations for its preservation.

Sign up for our e-newsletters