BUSINESS

Concrete company wants to move Fort Gordon mixing plant off base

Joe Hotchkiss
Augusta Chronicle
The Columbia County Concrete Co. asked property owner Eben Gray to lease the property to the company for five years.

A concrete supplier for Fort Gordon construction projects wants to move a ready-mix concrete plant from the base to property about two miles from the fort’s new Gate 6. 

The Columbia County Concrete Co. has applied to Columbia County to have more than 17 acres of land at 3448 Gordon Highway rezoned from residential agricultural to special in order to accommodate the proposed mixing facility. 

The property has been owned by Eben and Catherine Gray since 2007.  

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Mr. Gray, who operates a tree removal service, had used the land as a site for mulching, log storage and equipment storage. In 2018, Gray requested to rezone the property to allow a wood-processing yard after nearby homeowners complained of noise and dust generated by the site.  

Commissioners in May 2018 unanimously disapproved that request.

“The proposed use is considered industrial under the County code, and although it shares some characteristics with agricultural uses, (it) is more intense than would be anticipated in a residential area,” county planning staff reported at the time.  

The new request, dated June 21, would allow Columbia County Concrete to comply with the fort’s request to move off base. Though the company’s initial project – providing concrete for the now-completed U.S. Army Cyber Command headquarters building – is complete, it still serves the fort on other projects, Columbia County Concrete President Rhonda Kaczmarek said in a June 8 letter to county planners. 

The company plans to use the rear half of the property, almost nine acres, to erect the mobile mixing plant. It’s expected to operate about three weekdays per week and occasional Saturdays between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Kaczmarek said. 

The rezoning request is scheduled to be heard by the Columbia County Planning Commission at its July 21 meeting.