Store coming to Columbia County wants own style

Builders of a proposed Lidl grocery store in Columbia County are asking for extra home windows and a extra handy loading dock. 

The location at 4285 Washington Highway would place the low cost grocer throughout the road from an upscale Publix grocery store, certainly one of three in Columbia County. The location is comprised of 4 land parcels co-owned by Columbia County District 3 Commissioner Gary Richardson.  

First introduced:Lidl to construct first Columbia County grocery store

Different places:Lidl forward of schedule on Augusta, North Augusta shops

Now Opening:Low cost home equipment, inexperienced cleaners, new McAlister’s

Plans to construct the 31,000-square-foot Lidl have been progressing for no less than a 12 months. Columbia County commissioners accredited a pair of zoning variations for the challenge in June 2021, for a retaining wall to buffer adjoining properties and for altering the constructing’s most required setback from Washington Highway. 

Richardson abstained from that vote due to his connection to the challenge. The property’s different co-owners are Billy Jackson, who operates a regional chain of Tile Middle inside design shops, and Joel LaMothe Jr., whose Augusta-based firm owns a number of Jiffy Lube franchises. 

The challenge’s architects are also asking the county to permit a bigger window space and overhead doorways on the facet of the constructing, in accordance with variance requests filed with the county in April. 

County code permits as much as 25% of a constructing’s wall space within the Evans City Middle overlay district to be home windows or different kinds of architectural glass. The county created a zoning overlay district greater than 20 years in the past to keep up constructing aesthetics throughout improvement tasks to share comparable constructing aesthetics. 

The builders are asking for as much as 45% of window space on the facet of the constructing that might face Washington Highway. Bigger glass panels are a signature function of many Lidl supermarkets. 

Calling the function “a Lidl Grocery prototype,” the clear glass “permits prospects to see into the shop from the parking space,” stated Monica Armstrong, senior challenge supervisor for Atlanta-based YSM Design, in an April 22 letter to county planning workers. 

County code additionally permits overhead doorways – the steel roll-up doorways usually seen in loading areas – to be positioned within the backs of buildings. The topographic constraints of the positioning would enable such a door to be positioned solely on the facet of the constructing, Armstrong stated. 

The Columbia County retailer can be the twentieth Lidl in Georgia and simply the second within the state exterior metro Atlanta. The primary opened in 2017 on Alexander Drive in Augusta. 

Lidl is a Germany-headquartered grocery store chain that lists greater than 11,000 places worldwide. The shop’s austere strategy to décor and product show is meant to supply decrease costs. 

The Columbia County Planning Fee is predicted to contemplate Lidl’s variance request at its Could 19 assembly.