By Pamela Permar-Shierling
Only four Mainland Planning Commission (MPC) members attended last nights’s (Nov 10) commission meeting: Chair Kevin Higgins, Neal Boatright, Gary Nevill and Milton Hall.
As a result the first agenda item, a subdivision variance request, was deferred since Nevill recused himself and no quorum was available for a vote.
The commission also opted to defer four of the five ordinance amendments until a full board was present for discussion.
The commission did approve an amendment to the zoning ordinance that would create a process for a one year extension of a development plan. According to Planning and zoning Director Stefanie Leif, this language was inadvertently left out of the revised zoning ordinances that went into effect July 1, 2026.
The commission approved a rezoning request for the Shops at Fancy Bluff from a Planned Development to a new Planned Development (PD).
The 36.17 acre property is located at 149 Andy Tostensen Rd near I-95’s Exit 29 and owned by A.H. Tostensen III.
Per the staff report the property is planned as a unified regional commercial development accommodating anchor and large-format retail, shopping centers, medical and hospitality uses, restaurants, fuel stations, frontage outparcels, convenience retail, and commercial or flex uses.
The list of permitted uses is long and includes storage, gym, car wash, gas station, vehicle repair, restaurants, retail uses (florist, gift shop, check-cash, department store), hotel, motel, personal services, professional offices, radio / television station to name a few.
Nine special uses are listed plus “an accessory use not specifically listed as determined by the Community Development Department.”
Access may be provided from both U.S. Hwy 17 and Andy Tostensen Drive subject to Glynn County and Ga Dept. of Transportation approval.
One Boykin Ridge resident, Robert Miller, spoke in opposition to the project. Miller’s property adjoins Tostensen’s property and Miller was concerned about a buffer.
Nevill asked about the buffer, and Leif told him the ordinance requires a 20 ft. buffer between commercial and residential.
“You can add higher buffer standards now if you want to,” she told the commission.
The commissioners discussed including a fence in the buffer. Tostensen said he left more buffer on the back side of the property than was required. “I will do what you require but I do not want to put up a fence,” he said.
Boatright asked staff if the rezoning had been noticed properly since no one from Royal Oaks subdivision had come to the meeting.
Staff responded in the affirmative.
The MPC approved the rezoning request without adding any fence requirement.
The commission had a problem with the lack of a quorum on a vote for a rezoning amendment request for 3 acres located at 7340 Hwy 99 near Buc ee’s.
The request was to add commercial, medical, and brewery uses, as well as other uses to an existing PD text.
According to the PD text the amendment would “allow a mix of recreational, commercial, medical, governmental, public safety, and light industrial uses on portions of the Planned Development District following subdivision of the property.
Proposed uses include recreational vehicle park uses, public safety facilities including fire and EMS facilities, outpatient medical and urgent care facilities, warehousing and distribution facilities, beverage production and distribution uses, and supporting commercial services.”
A few of the specific uses include a fire station, public safety facilities, distillery and beverage production facilities and warehousing.
At the mention of warehousing commissioner Boatright said he had a problem with storage and asked how much of the property would be dedicated to storage.
The owners representative said only a couple of acres; that most of the acreage is already allocated.
“Are we getting too much storage (in that area)?” Boatright asked. “I don’t want exit 42 to become another exit 29. We have a major problem on exit 29 with truck stops, and I don’t want to see exit 42 become a problem with warehousing.”
When asked what specific uses were allocated for the property, the representative said he was not at liberty to say.
A motion to approve the amendment failed on a three to one vote. Hall voted no. A quorum is needed to take any action and the amendment would have gone to the Board of Commissioners as a no action item.
“This rezoning is too important to not take action,” Boatright said.
The commission decided to defer the amendment until the full commission could discuss it. That vote was unanimous and it was deferred to the Dec. 8 MPC meeting.
The commission approved a rezoning request from General Residential (GR) to Planned Development (PD) for 135 Belle Cutoff Rd, 175 Miranda Ln, and 194 Miranda Ln. Total acreage is 45.53 acres.s
The rezoning request was so the height limitation could be increased from 25 ft. to 35 ft.
Last December (Dec. 18, 2025) the Glynn County Board of Commissioners approved the rezoning request for this property from Forest Agricultural to General Residential and placed a 25 ft. height limit on the entire project.
This was done at the request of Dist. 1 Commissioner Sammy Tostensen to protect the adjoining neighbors who did not want a three story building looking down into their homes.
The new PD text includes single-family, two-family and multifamily units. Uses include short term rentals, group homes for six or fewer persons with disabilities, child day care for six or fewer, government facility.
The building height is limited to 35 ft. throughout the project except for 19 lots bordering Willow Creek Plantation and Cedardale Subdivision. The height restriction for these lots will be left at 25 ft.
