Developers wanted a 125-foot clock tower in Martinez. Here's the new plan four years later.
A Columbia County developer who proposed building a 125-foot clock tower off Bobby Jones Expressway more than four years ago is back with a revised version of the original plan.
BDM Development owns 5.68 acres at the corner of Rose Street and Chalker Road in Martinez. The land neighbors Lowe's Home Improvement.
The owner and applicant Southern Civil Solutions of Martinez filed a request earlier this year to construct seven buildings for a self-storage facility. The plan includes a two-bedroom apartment for the business' onsite manager.
The original plan, submitted in 2019, also called for a clock tower, resembling a similar 100-foot tower that helps advertise a Storage Time facility in Conyers. The 125-foot height, about as tall as Augusta University Medical Center on 15th Street, was intended to create "a local landmark," according to earlier application documents.
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By the time the Columbia County Board of Commissioners heard the proposal in June 2020, the developers had replaced the original request with a request for a 60-foot tower.
The board voted at the time to approve the self-storage rezoning plan, but on the condition that the tower, considered a building, not exceed 55 feet. Attaching a sign to the tower would not trigger code violations.
The developers didn't pursue the clock tower plan. When they refiled their application in February 2024, plans for the self-storage facility included no mention of a possible tower.
That plan is scheduled to be heard by the board at its next meeting April 2.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County self-storage plan excludes proposed 'local landmark'
