Growing Columbia County church seeks expansion on newly purchased property near Grovetown

A growing church campus near Grovetown needs Columbia County’s help to handle its expansion.

Warren Baptist Church’s Grovetown campus is asking the Columbia County Planning Commission to rezone land recently purchased by the church to accommodate much-needed parking, according to developer Mark Ivey, applying for the zoning change on Warren’s behalf.

Warren Baptist established its Grovetown campus in 2014 at 777 Horizon South Pkwy. Since then, the place of worship typically attracts about 1,000 people to each Sunday service, Ivey said in the project narrative accompanying the rezoning request.

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The church had been negotiating for several years to buy about 4.5 acres of land at 6001 Horizon West Pkwy. next to the church, at the intersection of Horizon South and Horizon West. In a deal that closed Oct. 31, Warren bought the property from bag manufacturer Palmetto Industries for more than $2.3 million.

Warren had been placing gravel parking at 6001, which the church now plans to pave with asphalt now that it owns the land.

Palmetto is expected to occupy the building on the property until its new 50,000-square-foot facility at the end of Horizon West is completed next spring.

“Once Palmetto Industries vacates the building in April of 2024, Warren Grovetown will perform cosmetic upgrades to the office area and exterior to the building,” Ivey said in the narrative. “Some administrative offices will be relocated to this building and the warehouse portion will be leased to a third party. As the church grows, the warehouse space will be converted to more traditional church uses as needed at that time.”

The Columbia County Planning Commission is scheduled to hear Warren’s rezoning request at its meeting Jan. 4.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County church eyes expansion at growing Grovetown campus