Columbia County commissioners grant rezoning change for Christian radio network
Columbia County commissioners granted a Christian radio network’s rezoning request while trying to assuage neighbors’ worries that it would be too disruptive to their rural neighborhood.
Augusta radio station WLPE-FM (91.7) is the flagship station for the Christian-programming Good News Network, established in 1984 by Clarence Barinowski. The network now consists of 31 stations in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama and Virginia. It includes six Spanish-language stations operating collectively as Radio Amistad.
Mark Barinowski recently filed a zoning application with Columbia County requesting a rezoning first to bring their rural offices on Wortham Lane into legal compliance, then to construct additional office space. The land had been zoned residential agricultural, but when the county granted the station permission to establish offices there in 2001, the property was never rezoned to accommodate the new use.
Today, several businesses operate out of the offices – the radio network’s administrative headquarters, Georgia-Carolina Tower, Barinowski Investment Co., Tichenor Real Estate and PSPJ Enterprises. All businesses are owned and operated by members of the Barinowski family.
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Neighboring the Barinowskis’ property are several homes on spacious lots, known collectively as Grimaud Place. The number of businesses already there, and the amount of traffic their growth could generate, spurred several Grimaud Place residents to object to the proposed rezoning.
“We don’t feel that a business with multiple employees should operate through our neighborhood,” neighbor Mark Walls said.
In and around Grimaud Place, resident John Walters said there’s “a lot of courtesy between neighbors.” But when nonresidents are driving through, he said that courtesy vanishes: “You maybe get a wave or something like that, but they’re going somewhere. That feeling is kind of what we’re fighting for.”
Another neighbor, Rick Viger, said changing the property’s zoning to S-1 would set a risky precedent that could lead to the neighborhood losing even more of its rural charm.
“The Pandora’s box that we’re looking at here is just so dangerous,” he told commissioners. “If this S-1 is granted, as we just heard, there is no assurance. I trust you guys and ladies, but I just don’t believe that you can give us any assurance that this is not going to move forward and become something that any of us couldn’t imagine.”
After spending an hour listening to the issue’s stakeholders, commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the rezoning, with Chairman Doug Duncan and District 1 Commissioner Connie Melear voting against.
But the approval was accompanied by conditions intended to address public concerns over potentially untempered growth. Because an S-1 zoning status can require very narrow uses for land, the motion to grant Barinowski’s rezoning stipulated that the only types of businesses allowed on the property would be the types of businesses that are already there.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County grants rezoning for radio network, with conditions
