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Updated: December 23, 2024 @ 11:58 pm
Woodland Church is located on North McDonough Road in Griffin. They are requesting a special exception to build a religious campground on the 132 acres they own.
LSTANFORD@GRIFFINDAILYNEWS.COM
Woodland Church is located on North McDonough Road in Griffin. They are requesting a special exception to build a religious campground on the 132 acres they own.
GRIFFIN — The Spalding County Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a special exception to develop a religious campground but tabled adding campground amendments to the county Code of Ordinances until 2025.
The actions came at the commission’s meeting on Dec. 5.
The commission heard an application from Woodland Church, located on North McDonough Road, for a special exception to develop a religious campground.
Stuart Boice, pastor of the church, said they have 132 acres of land and want to create a religious campground for religious events for adults, youth, and children. There will be cabins, a splash pad, ropes course, and other activities for the campers, and the camps will be staffed by certified workers.
Community Development Director David Allen asked the planned maximum number of cabins.
Boice stated he was asking for a total of 20 cabins, with a mixture of single bedroom cabins for adults and longhouse bunk halls for youth and children.
Commissioner Frank Harris asked if each cabin would have its own bathroom facilities, or if there would be a bathroom facility separate from the cabins.
Boice said the bathroom facility would be separate from the cabins. He said they would put in a septic system, and Allen noted that due to the clustered nature of the cabins and only one bathroom facility, that only one large septic system would be needed. They will also have access to public water.
Commissioner Bruce Ballard asked Boice if there would be a problem with only have 10 cabins rather than 20.
Boice said the future plan is to have 20 cabins, but that they could start with 10 cabins and have an option to come back to the commission for permission to add the other 10 cabins at a later date.
The commission specified that each of the cabins will have a concrete slab foundation.
Harris asked for clarification about who owns the property.
Boice explained that he and his wife have been the pastors of Parkway Baptist Church in Forest Park since 1996. He said the church purchased the 132 acres of property on North McDonough Road in 2009 and after moving changed the name to Harvest Worship Center, which is still listed as the owner of the property. He said in 2015 they changed the name of the organization to Woodland Church to clarify its identity as a non-denominational church.
A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval the special exception with conditions to develop a religious campground. It was approved by a 4-0 vote. Commission member Marylouise Upshaw was absent.
Campground Amendments
Proposed text amendments to add resort campground ordinances and standards to the Spalding County Code of Ordinances were tabled until next year. Commissioners decided to table the three agenda items in order to give citizens time to comment on all three items.
Allen requested an opportunity to speak to commissioners concerning the three agenda items related to campground ordinances and standards.
The amendments came up following a nearly 90-minute long citizens comments period on the North Towaliga Village Node project. Each of the amendments would require citizen comments, and the Planning Commission discussed combining the comments portion.
But citizens waiting to speak on the amendments protested, stating they could not adequately make their remarks on all three items in the three-minute period given to comments. The citizens suggested tabling the amendments until a time when they would be allow to speak on each one separately.
The issue came up after an application for a campground resort had been received, Allen said, but noted that the applicant has since withdrawn the request.
Chair John Youmans decide to allow Allen to finish his statements about the amendments before the board decided on tabling the comments on the items.
Director Allen discussed some of the definitions covered by the standards, identifying high liability issues such as the resorts having swimming pools, and areas of possible difficulty such as the length of maximum stays, noting the need not have campers taking up residence and staying year-round at campground resorts.
He added other considerations are the amount of acreage needed for campgrounds, road standards, utilities, and waste collection facilities.
Youmans stated that there is no mention of event insurance in the standards.
Director Allen agreed that event insurance should also be considered.
The director noted that placement of campground will require significant deliberation in reference to zonings. Campgrounds are currently allowed as special exception under AR-1, and Allen suggested they could also be considered under the Agricultural-Tourism zoning.
Youmans requested Director Allen investigate surrounding counties to find out how they handle campground zoning.
Commissioner Nick Allen asked why a campground would not be classified under commercial zoning.
Director Allen stated that was a possibility if the campground was located near a major highway.
Zoning Attorney Newton Galloway added that rezoning rural lands not near highways to commercial for campgrounds could create unwanted spot commercial zoning. But he noted that farming is also a commercial enterprise that is allowed in AR-1 zoning.
Ballard stated that based on his research, other counties are having trouble enforcing the maximum length of stay at campgrounds, and proposed the amendments restrict the maximum number of camping spots as well as the minimum percentage of open land available for a campground.
Following the discussion with Director Allen, motions were made and approved to table the three amendments. They were all approved by 4-0 votes.
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