McIntosh/Holmestown residents recently approved land-use changes for their community for the 2040 Liberty County Comprehensive Plan. The Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission made the changes after meeting with community members last month.
Director Jeff Ricketson and planner Melissa Jones again met with members of the community at the Dorchester Academy auditorium, this time to show them changes to the land-use map that more than two dozen residents said they wanted.
About 10 residents attended this month’s meeting, including Liberty County Commissioner Marion Stevens and LCPC board member Phil Odom.
Ricketson told residents the changes made to the land-use map represent only those changes they told the LCPC they wanted to make during the July 24 meeting. Jones reminded them the changes made to the land-use map are not zoning changes. She said if a land owner or developer wants to change the zoning for a particular piece of property in their community, he or she will have to request rezoning through the Liberty County Board of Commissioners.
“The only changes that we made to the McIntosh/Holmestown map were on Highways 84 and 196,” Jones said. “We actually changed the various land uses in some areas that were on the old map to mixed-use, rural corridor. (This means) you can have a wide range of possible zoning changes.”
She explained that if major development were to happen in the McIntosh/Holmestown community, it would most likely take place along Highways 84 and 196.
“We also added some public and institutional (structures) on the map,” Jones said, explaining they were not accounted for on the current map developed in 2008. “These areas were designated as agricultural/forestry. We want to make sure the map reflects what the land is used for now.”
A resident asked about the county’s plan to extend water lines through their community, which Ricketson confirmed by pointing to the route of the proposed water lines on the map. The discussion then morphed from water lines to water bills with one resident asking questions about her water bill from Midway. Stevens and Odom tried to answer her question but without her bill to examine, they couldn’t help her.
During the last meeting, there was some discussion about the county’s proposed bypass that would have been paid for with the Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax that failed to pass in 2012. Odom and Stevens pointed out that bypass’ shorter route and the much shorter route proposed for a truck bypass that would connect Highways 119 to 84 above Walthourville.
Unlike the original by-pass, the truck by-pass would be outside the McIntosh/Holmestown land-use area. Jones said it would nonetheless be reflected in the next land-use maps, which have to be updated every five years.
The next community meeting will be in Riceboro on Sept. 25. Jones said members of that community are welcome to meet with LCPC members at city hall at 6 p.m. She said LCPC will work with the Riceboro community in September and October then with Midway in November and December.