Statesboro City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved rezoning a 28-acre tract at the corner of Cypress Lake Road and Veterans Memorial Parkway corner to MX "mixed use" for inclusion of a future Kroger supermarket shopping center, with conditions.

The council at the last minute added one new condition, its intent being that a proposed residential portion sketched on the side nearest the existing Whispering Pines neighborhood actually be kept residential, and on that side.

Other conditions developed by city planning staff and adopted by the Planning Commission in its recommendation were also kept. These require the developer or property owner to submit a traffic study before a land-disturbing activity permit is issued, provide a wetland plan and ensure that "substantial issues" are mitigated, and apply standards from the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual in engineering plans "to reduce the potential of negative environmental impacts."

After the meeting, Stephen Rushing, local attorney representing Southeastern Property Acquisitions LLC, which applied for the zoning change, said the Kroger store could be built in 2027.

"They've got a lot of preliminary stuff before they can start digging, you know, stuff that you don't spend money on with the engineers until you get your zoning," he said. "So, they've got to get soil tested and some more in-depth examination. But they're going to start that immediately."

When the reporter asked if this could lead to construction within a couple of years, Rushing said that to his understanding, yes, "definitely within that period of time, could be shorter." Then asked if that could mean next year, he said that sounds too soon, since 2026 is almost here, but "probably '27."

Southeastern Property Acquisitions LLC is based in Augusta, where it shares its business address with a commercial development and real estate company simply called Southeastern, whose multistate, regional portfolio includes a number of current and former Kroger stores, and whose website also highlights a few residential projects. 

R-3 to MX change

The requested change, now approved, is from the previous R-3, medium-density residential, classification, which Rushing said would have allowed more than 200 residential units to be built across the 28 acres, to MX. With the mixed-use zoning, 75 residential units were outlined on the concept plan for the portion nearest Whispering Pines Boulevard, but Rushing said the layout and number of homes could vary a little within the MX density limits, which would allow townhomes but not larger apartment buildings.

Whispering Pines Boulevard, entrance to the Whispering Pines subdivision with single-family homes, intersects Cypress Lake Road north of the corner portion of the property proposed for the shopping center. A nearly 100,000-square foot Kroger store, a Kroger Fueling Center and four outparcels for other businesses are proposed for that corner.

Previously tabled

Two weeks previous, the council held its actual hearing on the zoning change application as part of the Nov. 18 council meeting. At that time, six citizens — most or all of them residents of the Whispering Pines neighborhood — spoke against the rezoning, most expressing concern about environmental damage, traffic or some combination of the two. Council members at that point had also received at least one other resident's opposition letter and a letter from the Ogeechee Riverkeeper legal director requesting that a decision be tabled until Dec. 16. 

The council instead tabled the decision until this Tuesday, Dec. 2, on a 3-1 vote, with Mayor Pro Tem Shari Barr, the District 5 council member, both making the motion to table and presiding. District 2 Councilmember Paulette Chavers had voted "nay" to tabling, and District 4 Councilmember John Riggs was absent Nov. 18.

Council feedback

Tuesday, Riggs was back, so all council members were present. But Mayor Jonathan McCollar, who recused himself from the discussion at the previous meeting, remained recused on just this one topic, so Barr again conducted that portion of the meeting. As previously reported, McCollar has said that his family owns a small portion of land that is outside the city limits but proposed for the overall project and wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

Riggs said he had watched the previous meeting video and had concerns about noise and light pollution but would support the zoning action.

"I wish we could get Kroger to go somewhere else, the middle of town," Riggs said. "But we don't get to decide who owns the property and what they want to do with their property."

He said he had been weighing the decision and would approve as "more appropriate for the city of Statesboro," although "not the greatest thing" for Whispering Pines.

"I want to eliminate any kind of light pollution and noise pollution, and that's what I want to ask the developers about," Riggs continued. "We need trees, lots of trees … and all lights pointed inward" to the commercial development.

Rushing then spoke to the council, saying that the MX zoning "has already very stringent lighting restrictions … that we have to comply with, right down to where they have to face and how many candlelight powers it can be." 

Developer rep

A Southeastern Property Acquisitions executive, Chris Senn, also spoke briefly to the council, stating that the company has developed similar projects around neighborhoods before.

"We will definitely be very sensitive to the residents and anyone around," Senn said. "Kroger likes to come and support the community. They don't want the community mad at them, especially the neighbors, so we're open to any suggestions to kind of appease the neighborhood about this."

Barr noted that the city Zoning Ordinance provides "some choices about buffers" between commercial and residential areas, from a 50-foot-wide band of trees to a 10-foot strip of more closely planted bushes to "just a fence."

"So I'm hoping that that flexibility might leave as many trees as possible, as much buffer as possible, home for Cypress the turtle, as much of that as you can," she said. (Cypress is the native, eastern box turtle that Whispering Pines resident and International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, turtle and tortoise advocate Jordan Gray brought to the previous hearing.)

Barr asked if city staff would have any advice on adding a condition to the zoning approval.

The added condition

City Manager Charles Penny then spoke, stating that he tries "not to have any last-minute surprises" for a developer but also noting that MX zoning would be "for the entire piece of property" and that the concept plan alone would not bind the developers to any particular placement of the commercial and residential elements of the project.

"I would say to council, where the residential development is on that plan, we need to ensure, if council so desires, that that development stays that way, so that Kroger is not sitting on Whispering Pines Boulevard or any other commercial development is not sitting on Whispering Pines Boulevard," Penny said.

One option would be to make this a "conditional use," he suggested, and a council member asked if city Planning and Development Director Justin Williams could explain.

The Zoning Ordinance provides several ways to do this, Williams said, and suggested using the "mixed-use concurrency" requirement of the Statesboro Unified Development Code 2.2.12-F, normally a requirement for a planned-unit development, or PUD, as a condition of MX zoning. It requires that 20% of the development be residential.

This could be applied "to the area abutting Whispering Pines," Williams said.

That, plus the three previous staff conditions, became the conditions of District 1 Councilmember Tangie Johnson's motion for conditional approval of the zoning change, seconded by District 3 Councilmember Ginny Hendley and restated again by Williams.

Four council members said "aye." Barr did not voice her vote but afterward said that, by not voting against, she had in effect voted in favor, making it a 5-0 decision.