IPC approves rezoning application for Sea Palms event venue

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By Pamela Permar-Shierling

Last night (Sept. 15) on a five to two vote the Islands Planning Commission approved a new PD (planned development) text for 7.17 acres on Frederica Road owned by Sea Palms Ventures LLC.

Voting in favor of the motion to approve were Chairman Joe Nash, Bryce Brock, Brett Bearden, Michael Torras and Matthew McHale. Both Odet Douglass and Courtlyn Cook voted no.

The IPC voted to defer the development plan until after the Glynn County Board of Commissioners (BOC) votes on the rezoning request. The item is not on the Sept. 17 BOC agenda.

The proposed development will serve as a mixed-use commercial development including retail, restaurants, professional office space, golf, pickle ball, arcade, outdoor venue, and tennis.

Planning Staff said they received 47 comments in favor of the project and 155 comments against the project.

The 7 plus acres includes two parcels 5445 and 5447 Frederica Rd.

In 1982 the Board of Commissioners  limited the 1.552 acre parcel at 5445 Frederica Rd. to office or residential use. It was not to be used for retail commercial ever including into the future. Deed restrictions were to be placed on the property.

According to staff the rezoning would release the deed restrictions on the property.

The property is located in the North Island Character area per the 2023 Comprehensive Plan. The plan states the need to “protect historic and environmental resources, as well as existing residential neighborhoods, from the impacts of development.”

The plan points out traffic congestion on Frederica Road, the only north-south thoroughfare, that golf cart usage is exacerbating traffic issues, that tree canopy preservation and tree protection during development are also issues.

The Comp Plan talks about the pressure of residential development in the area especially in the Harrington Community. The Comp Plan suggests limiting the creation of additional subdivisions and allow neighborhoodscale commercial development at the Frederica Rd. / Harrington Rd. intersection. such as a small grocery store which would reduce potential traffic on Frederica.

Courtlyn Cook raised the question of restrictions on events and times during the day. She commented that the applicant was asking for approval with no restrictions.

Brad Busby, Executive Vice President RREAF Holdings Hospitality, said, “We didn’t put in any specific event items because we wanted to make sure there was something for everybody.”

It’s a family venue not a concert venue, he said. He also said it is RREAF’s intention to operate the venue, not to develop it and sell it.

“It’s (the venue’s) purpose is a place for connection,” Busby said. “We want to do things for the community. Our intention is to be a community partner.”

Odet Douglass asked him how many meetings had he had with the neighborhoods and what kind of feed back did he receive.

He named Deer Run and their HOA (homeowners association). “We tried to have a broad conversation across many different communities to get a sense of what would work,” he said.

“A place to hang out was needed was the message we got,” he said.

Cook asked about the sound analysis presented by the consultant and was the music going to be limited to 85 decibels. “I see nowhere in the PD text that sound will be limited.”

Note: according to the Hearing Health Foundation website anything over 70 decibels can be harmful to hearing. The Foundation’s comparison to 85 decibels was city traffic from inside a car or a noisy restaurant.

The RREAF sound consultant responded they couldn’t promise to keep the noise at 85 decibels. She compared 85 decibels to two amplified guitars playing together.

“I think that is the most (the two guitar players) that would be happening in this facility. If the noise goes over 85 decibels that would fall into a special permit,” she said.

Busby said the intent is to be able to have a conversation while there is music in the background. “We do not intend to have ticketed events,” he said.

He said they were open to requesting a special permit if the sound was expected to go over 85 decibels.

Douglass asked what the hours of operation were.

“We haven’t defined when we will open but we have discussed 10 p.m. as the closing time,” Busby said.

“We have talked about 9 or 10 a.m. to open, but we have a coffee shop that we assume will open earlier as well as the driving range will probably open earlier,” he said.

In response to a question about the planned jumbotron from Joe Nash, Busby said there was more indoor than outdoor space. “We planned it that way so people could go inside due to weather or noise.”

Busby said, for example, if a football game went past 10 p.m. the jumbotron sound would be turned off and people could go inside and listen to the game.

During the public hearing four persons spoke in favor of the project.

Three were Sea Palms residents and the fourth lived in Wymberly but said he was moving closer to the planned venue.

Mark Fenton liked the amenities the project will bring to the north end of the Island including the driving range.

Joe Fonseca called the project upscale and professional. “It will add to the county’s revenue,” he said.

Mike Minutelli said the project will create employment and revenue. “The project should be evaluated on its merits. It’s a well planned project.”

Bert Ethridge said he didn’t care. “I’m about to move close to this place. The project makes sense. I hate so many people are against it.”

“But,” he said, “there are 15,000 people on the Island and most of them didn’t show up.”

Miriam Lancaster, speaking against the project, pointed out that the only binding document is the PD text which becomes law.

“The sound and lighting studies are not in the PD text,” she said. She pointed out the development team did not connect with the people in Deer Run Villas which adjoins the proposed project.

“The development team has met twice with the Deer Run board but never with the other 59 homeowners,” she said.

“The people in Deer Run Villas have not heard about the sound or lighting studies,” she continued. “The planned pickleball sound attenuation wall is just a line on a drawing. There’s no specifications for size, structure or materials for the wall in the PD text.”

“The PD text needs to be tight enough that the project is built the way they presented it tonight,” she said. “That they don’t pour the first beer until all the buildings are built so all these sound mitigation measures they told you about tonight will actually happen.”

“There are no site coverage standards in the PD text. There is nothing in the PD text to prohibit them from developing the driving range,” she said. “The PD text allows lots as small as 3,000 sq. ft.”

“With 270 parking spaces planned and only 121 required, it’s likely that commercial development will take over the driving range sooner rather than later,” she said.

Jeff Jones also spoke against the project saying that sone Deer Run homes are only 25 ft. from the pickleball courts.

“The applicant is proposing to operate an outdoor special events venue with a stage, outdoor entertainment, and recreational courts surrounded by long established residential neighborhoods,” Jones said. “

“This matters because of what Glynn County’s ordinance says about these uses,” he said. “The ordinance is unambiguous. An outdoor special events venue is not permitted in any commercial zoning district which is what this venue is.”

He pointed out that the applicant is requesting an outdoor theater which is only allowed in Highway and Freeway Commercial districts.

Note: An outdoor venue with a stage and a giant screen is proposed.

Jones said in 2015 the Georgia Supreme Court upheld Glynn County’s authority to stop large commercial entertainment venues in St. Simons residential areas.

“Scale, frequency, and cumulative impact of commercial entertainment is exactly what Glynn County is entitled to regulate,” Jones said.

Susan Bowles, a Deer Run resident whose property borders the project site, said the Comprehensive Plan confirms the west side of Frederica road north of Ameris Bank should remain residential.

She said Fendig Road is a substandard road and does not have the capacity for 270 cars leaving the parking lot after an event. The development plan shows three entrances / exits along Fendig Road.

Susan Canelli, a Glynn Haven resident pointed out that the RSM concerts became a logistical nightmare for the tournament and have been cancelled.

She is also concerned the venue will become a destination in the southeast and crowds will descend on St. Simons due to this venue

Jim Frasche was concerned about traffic. “You can’t say what the project’s use of existing streets will be. The project presents two options: one to realign N. Windward with Fendig Rd. and the second would be to construct a roundabout at Fendig Rd. Which option hasn’t been determined yet.”

He said the traffic study was done July 29 and the project plan has changed since then but the traffic study has not been updated. “The Frederica Road traffic improvements will not be done in time for this project,” he said.

He said the traffic study was done on one day from 11 a.m. until noon.

“The development includes a stage, bar, seating, lawns, covered lawns, green room, outdoor entertainment facilities and no project specific operating hours and no outdoor event attendance limit,” he said.

“From 11 a.m. to noon on one day does not tell us what we need to know,” he said.

“The project won’t operate in isolated conditions. It will operate in the current conditions of Frederica Road. This includes residential traffic for Fendig and North Windward then restaurants, recreation and entertainment at this development operating simultaneously.”

Hugh Bourque summed up the opposition. “It’s a great project but in the wrong place due to traffic, noise, drainage, compatibility, and the ability to have a commercial development on the west side of Frederica Rd.”

Glynn County Senior Planner Kristina Wright, who presented the plan to the IPC, addressed some of the concerns.

She stated that the revised PD text reduced the number of uses and that the site coverage is on the master plan at 44 percent.

She said the tree report is included and that the PD states the project meets the county’s noise and light ordinances. The traffic report is in the development plan packet she said.

Douglass asked if the PD text complied with the county’s new zoning laws.

Wright said, “For the most part except for the driveways and the buffers.”

The developers asked for 12 ft. type A alternative buffers adjacent to residences; 10 ft. type D buffers with 0 ft. and 7 ft. type buffers on segments of Fendig Rd. where the county’s right of way encroaches onto the property.

Five driveways currently exist. The development asks for four; three are allowed per the zoning ordinance.

Douglass wanted to know if the IPC is able to disregard the 1982 deed restriction on the 1.552 acre parcel.

Wright said that to staff’s knowledge the deed restriction has never taken place.

Assistant County Attorney Jason Wilbanks said the 1982 BOC imposed conditions on the rezoning. He said the BOC added those conditions to the PD text at that time.

“Whether the restrictions made it into deeds is a separate question,” he said. “Nothing you can do can change what is in the deeds. What we are looking at are the baseline rules surrounding this property.”

“Just as the conditions were added in the 1982 zoning, this rezoning moves away from those conditions,” he told the IPC. “But it doesn’t negate anything that might or might have happened in the deed records for the property. That is more of a separate civil law question that you would have to be enforced to be bound by. The BOC, if they wanted to move away from those conditions, could also do that.”

Douglass wanted to make sure the traffic options were addressed: align N. Windward with Fendig Rd. or construct a roundabout.

Wright said a 200 page in depth traffic report was attached to the development plan application that covered both options.

“The developers would be bound by either one,” she said. “Both meet the standards of what is required at this time and what is in the traffic study.”

She said that as staff moves toward construction planning a transportation engineer would look at any impacts.

Douglass asked Wright, “In your opinion regarding the density especially on the west side of Frederica Road beyond Ameris Bank, is this project compatible with the current Comprehensive Plan in terms of something that could be here?”

Wright said, “We usually look at a list of compatible zoning classifications and planned development is on that list so per that it would be a compatible  zoning classification.”

Cook wanted to know if the property were sold, couldn’t the new owner develop anything in the PD text on that parcel of land.

Wright said yes but they would be bound by the development plan unless they came back for an amendment.

Douglass said she would like the applicant to meet with the Deer Run residents to give residents an opportunity to address their concerns.

Torras made the motion to approve including a 10 p.m. closing time for the project unless there was a special permit and a concrete sound wall 11 ft. high and 290 ft. long landscaped on both sides.

The vote was five to two.