Over the objections of the developers of 8.1 acres on Daniells Bridge Road, the Oconee County Planning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Commissioners approve a new concept plan for the property with the conditions recommended by the county planning staff.
Kris Robinson told the Commission that he and business partner Joe Polaneczky objected to five of the 13 conditions that the county planning staff said should be applied to their request for approval of their plan for a seven-building office/ warehouse/ flex space complex.
Robinson said “there is not enough room” on the property to meet some of the landscaping requirements, that he didn’t think they should be required to build deceleration lanes on Daniells Bridge Road, and that the closing hours requested by the county were too restrictive and should be removed entirely.
Robinson also objected to the requirement that 80 percent of the exterior walls be brick masonry, brick veneer, stone veneer or glass, or a combination thereof.
In addition, Robinson and Polaneczky will be asking the Board of Commissioners on Feb. 3, when the recommendation of the Planning Commission is before it, for a variance that would allow for loading areas and garage doors on the rear of buildings that back up to Daniells Bridge Road.
In other action on Tuesday, the Planning Commission also unanimously recommended that the Board of Commissioners approve a request for a special use to allow construction of a contractor’s office/showroom building with an outdoor storage area on five acres on Jimmy Daniell Road.
That property abuts four residential lots in and the entrance to Silver Leaf subdivision, and land planner Ken Beall said, if he is able to follow current plans, the trees at the entrance to the subdivision will not be removed.
Land Use Map Reference
Robinson in his comments to the Commission, acknowledged that the property at 2100 Daniells Bridge Road, on which he and Polaneczky plan to build a seven-building office/ warehouse/ flex space complex, abuts residential properties.
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| Robinson, Polaneczky, Beall (L-R) 1/20/2026 |
Robinson justified his request by saying that his property and abutting properties are in the Regional Center character area in the 2023 Oconee County Comprehensive Plan Update and said these abutting properties could “potentially be” commercial in the future.
The two persons who spoke against the rezone request on Tuesday night live in Birchmore Hills subdivision on Daniells Bridge Road a short distance from the project. They said they did not want to see additional commercial development on Daniells Bridge Road.
“I am here representing my family,” said Laura Clementson, whose three young children were with her at the meeting. “I am mostly concerned about the traffic,” she said.
Clementson said that she recognized that the proposed project is expected to produce less traffic than the original proposal for a single 112,070 square foot office building. “We have trouble all the time” with traffic on Daniells Bridge Road, she said.
“Hopefully it will stay residential and we’ll keep our roads safe,” Clementson said.
While the section of Daniells Bridge Road before it turns away from SR 316 and the SR Loop 10 interchange is commercial, Sandy Schempp said, “On the other side we have a residential area.”
“I think bringing in this facility with industrial doors facing out towards the road and sitting right there is not a good idea at all,” she said.
Commission Response
Planning Commission Member Colby Baker told Schempp when she has finished speaking that the “future land use does allow for this type of use.”
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| Hunt 1/10/2026 |
Planning Commission Chair Chuck Hunt told Schempp that he had been on the committee that had produced the latest update to the Comprehensive Plan.
“We don’t have a crystal ball,” Hunt said. “If it (commercial development) is going to happen,” he said. “these are the sort of area. We’re not saying people have to move out of their house or anything.”
“Changing into being an industrial area is not a good idea,” Schempp responded.
The large section of land in the north of the county along both sides of SR 316 is designed Regional Center, but large sections of it are residential.
The Comprehensive Plan says the Regional Center Character Area “is characterized by regional-serving retail and commercial services, office complexes for medical and corporate offices, hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities, higher-density residential planned developments, and single-family detached subdivisions.”
At present, the 8.1 acre parcel that Robinson and Polaneczky want to develop into their small office and warehouse complex is the only one not zoned for residential use along Daniells Bridge Road once it turns away from SR 316.
The corner lot at Chestnut Hill Road and Daniells Bridge Road has a swimming pool that operates commercially, but the land remains zoned residential and is part of Welbrook Farms subdivision.
Nature Of Request
In 2008, the Board of Commissioners rezoned 9.1 acres on Daniells Bridge Road from AR-1 (Agricultural Residential District 1 Acre) to OBP (Office Business Park District) with the stipulation that the owners had to grant right of way for widening of the road to accommodate the planned office building.
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| Regional Center Character Area in Pink (Click To Enlarge) |
The developers who made that proposal never purchased the property and never went forward with plans for the office building. The property has remained undeveloped since that time.
A large amount of commercial property is available near the site with the movement of the Zaxby headquarters from the areas, and the county planning staff wrote in its report that “the property currently does not have a reasonable economic use” as zoned.
Robinson and Polaneczky, through their Krojo LLC, are proposing to place seven buildings with a total of 66,750 square feet and 213 parking spaces, on the remaining 8.1 acres.
The site plans show five of those buildings on Daniells Bridge Road and two inside the complex, backing up to SR Loop 10. The most western of the buildings would be two stories tall. The remainder would be single story.
Robinson and Polaneczky are asking for a variance to the county development code, arguing that because of the road frontage and the “shape and topography of the property and space needed for septic, the ability to shift buildings to allow for rear loading areas/garage doors is non-existent.”
Variance requests are not reviewed by the Planning Commission before they come before the Board of Commissioners.
Robinson and Polaneczky are calling their project Silo Park Daniell Bridge, following their development of Silo Park Colony Square on Jamestown Road behind Colony Square shopping center on Hog Mountain Road.
Conditions On Rezone
Robinson said on Tuesday night that he didn’t think he and Polaneczky should be required to build the 100 foot deceleration lanes that the planning staff has recommended because their development will generate little additional traffic.
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| Schempp Responding To Baker 1/20/2026 |
He said he anticipated that some of the occupants of the seven building would be using them all hours of the day and night and objected to the staff proposed limitation of use from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
“Oconee County already has a noise ordinance in place,” he said, restricting noise between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Robinson objected to several planting requirements listed by the planning staff, saying that “with the way the depth of the property, this condition here is not buildable or sustainable.”
Robinson said the 35 foot buffer for SR Loop 10 at the rear of the property listed by staff as a condition also should be removed.
“In the concept plan,” he said, “we have left a 35 foot undisturbed buffer along the whole back of the property. We’re requesting that this (condition) be taken out, and we will augment open areas as necessary.”
The staff listed as a condition that exterior walls be made of “brick masonry, brick veneer, stone veneer or glass, or combination thereof.”
“We are so shielded here with a 35 foot buffer on the back and 50 feet on the sides and an enhanced landscape strip on the front, I would request that this be changed to 50 percent,” Robinson said.
The plans for the project show two entrances from Daniells Bridge Road, one between Lynn Drive and Will Usher Road, and the other opposite a residence at 2101 Daniells Bridge Road.
The Planning Commission did modify one of the conditions to allow for planting with two feet of a right of way rather than four feet.
Oconee Medical Properties
Tim Burgess and Gavin Griffith, through their company, Oconee Medical Properties LLC, are asking the county for a special use to allow them to build a 20,000 square foot office/showroom, and storage building on 5 acres at 1691 Jimmy Daniell Road.
Burgess and Griffith have developed much of the property along Virgil Landford Road and currently are developing Research Quarter on the eastern end of that roadway.
Speaking on behalf of Burgess and Griffith, Beall told the Planning Commission on Tuesday that over the last 11 years the developers “have moved their office headquarters from one project to the next, and they'd like to have a project that they can settle into and not have to move every few years.”
The proposed building sits deep in the property and is divided into three parts: 3,000 square feet of office space at the front of the build, 17,000 square feet of warehouse space, and 5,000 square feet of screened open storage area in the rear.
The property, which, according to county tax records, Oconee Medical Properties purchased in 2014, is zoned Agricultural (AG), as are properties to the north and south of the parcel.
The parcel abuts on its west side four lots in Silver Leaf subdivision. Jimmy Daniell Road forms the eastern border of the property.
According to the county planning staff report, Burgess and Griffith had the option of asking to rezone the property to Office Business Park (OBP), which allows by right construction of a“Construction Contractors, Builders and Developers, with outdoor storage.”
Alternately, the developers could seek a special use approval for that facility in an AG district. The builders are asking for the special use approval.
Comments At Planning Commission Meeting
“We've presented a plan that we think can realistically be constructed as shown,” Beall said to the Commission on Tuesday. He said only about six people will be at the facility on a typical day.
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| Mills 1/21/2026 |
Harold Thompson, who owns one of the lots that abuts the proposed facility, told the Commission that “the property that backs up to my backyard is zoned agricultural, and I don't think a 17,000 square foot warehouse belongs there.”
“It just doesn't seem to fit with the nature of the property and the nature of the way that our subdivision's been developed,” he added.
Jon Mills, representing the Silver Leaf Home Owners Association, was the next speaker. He was mostly concerned about the entranceway to the subdivision.
“So if you leave all the existing canopy,” Mills said, “we're basically putting a big building, which, you know, I don't love the idea of a 17,000 foot commercial building next to my house, but if it's covered in trees on almost all sides, that from our view, it's going to be a lot better than what the other opportunities for this project could be.”
“We just would like to protect our residential nature of our driveway, our entrance way into the neighborhood by protecting the canopy,” he said.
“My understanding from talking to them,” Mills said, “and I have no reason to not believe them, is they're not bringing semi-trucks to deliver materials there. This is more for overflow, extra stuff from a different project that's closed out.”
“I believe that this is the best that we're going to get for our neighborhood,” Mills said, “and we're not opposed to those requests. We're not opposing it--or I'm not opposing it. Thank you.”
Matt Rogers, the third and final speaker, lives in adjoining Deerbrook subdivision and said “our greatest concern is the traffic control coming through...These large facilities, distribution centers, 18-wheelers, those are a big concern.”
Beall Responds
“Concerning the canopy,” Beall said after the three citizens had spoken, “generally speaking, we don't--our client doesn't--want to remove any more trees than is necessary to have a fully functioning project.”
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| Medical Properties Concept Plan (Click To Enlarge) |
“We haven't done a grading plan yet,” he added. “We've only done a conceptual plan.”
“We have to have the latitude to address the things that we need to comply with--to meet...code requirements,” Beall said. “So if that means we have to adjust the locations, then we’ve got to adjust those locations.”
“So seemingly that wouldn't be taking down more trees,” he said. “It would just mean maybe where they want us to preserve the trees.”
“There wasn't any intention that tractor trailers would be coming in here,” he said. “Really short trucks, delivery type trucks, going from a job site, or flatbed trucks going from a job site with leftover materials to store until the next job.”
After a brief discussion of the possible grading on the site, particularly as it related to Silver Leaf Road, the Commission approved the request by Oconee Medical Properties.
Video
The video below is on the county YouTube channel.
I also attended the meeting and recorded my own video as a backup. The still images above are frames from my video.
The meeting starts at 4:40 in the video.
Discussion of the Oconee Medical Properties rezone begins at 8:20 in the video.
The Commission also approved a request by Kirk McClellan and Joseph Hale III to divide a 5 acre lot on Clotfelter Road into two lots. That is at 36:54 in the video.
Discussion of the Silo Park Daniells Bridge rezone starts at 40:50 in the video.
I live in Welbrook Farms subdivision about a mile from the proposed warehouse and office complex proposed by Krojo LLC
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