Rezoning for Convenience Store, Gas Station on Hwy 321 Approved
WINNSBORO – A rezoning request that would accommodate development of a campground on Frees Creek Road on Lake Monticello triggered a lengthy pushback last week from the applicant who denied that he planned to develop the property into a campground.
The applicant, Verun Bhalla, who introduced himself as Bubby Bala, requested that the planning commission recommend that county council rezone a 32.68-acre lakefront property from R1 (Single-Family Residential) to RD-1 (Rural Residential). The property is located at 249 Frees Creek Road on Lake Monticello, and sits on a peninsula with approximately 100 feet of waterfront. Bala (Bhalla), a physician who said he is affiliated with Lexington Medical Center, said the property is owned by AB Frees LLC, a limited liability company that he and his wife, Allison, own.
The county’s planning staff recommended denial, stating the applicant wished “to operate a campground,” a use not compatible with the 2024 comprehensive plan. Staff further described a rezoning to RD-1 as potential spot zoning, warning it would introduce a commercial element into a low-density residential area. The comprehensive plan emphasizes the preservation of existing residential character and limits the introduction of non-compatible uses.
“The majority of Lake Monticello is zoned R1,” Director of Community Development, Joe Toledo, said. He also noted that the properties bordering the Frees Creek Road property are also zoned R1.
Bala, however, rejected the suggestion that he wants to develop the property as a campground. Speaking at length, he said he and his wife, the parents of five children, purchased the land to create a future family homestead.
“In order to help pay for this property, we wanted to put a few small, well-thought-out rental structures on it that we could rent to friends or to the community,” Bala told the audience at the Nov. 20 planning commission meeting. “To my understanding, the definition of a campground comes because I’d be tying three or four small one- and two-bedroom rental structures into a common septic tank.” He said that septic system was actually designed for a future family home that he said he plans to build on the property in 10 – 15 years, not for campground use.
“All we want to do is be able to pay for the land that we bought and move our family out here,” Bala said. He said the rental structures would then go away.
The couple now lives on lakefront property on Lake Murray. Their Lake Murray home is the address for the business AB Frees LLC that owns the Frees Creek Road property that Bala wants rezoned. Bala and his wife own three other limited liability companies as well, all listed at their Lake Murray home address – AB Seas LLC, AB Trees LLC, AB Skis LLC, and a non-profit, Healthy U.S. Families.
“We have experience having successful rental properties,” Bala told commissioners. “We have another rental property, which is our second home. We price them high enough to where people don’t come to party. We don’t want that crowd. We put a lot of time, effort, and love into our places, and we want people to enjoy them.”
According to the county’s zoning ordinance, if the property is rezoned to RD-1 zoning, a number of commercial uses – in addition to a campground– would then be outright permitted without going before council. Some of those uses listed in the ordinance include: hog and poultry farms, sewage treatment and collection facilities, gasoline stations, animal shelters, waste collection, correctional institutions, and fire and police stations.
Bala asked the Commission to postpone its vote to allow residents an opportunity to ask questions and hear the family’s intentions directly.
The Commission voted unanimously to table the request until its December meeting, when public comment will be permitted. However, according to the county’s PIO, Gene Stephens, that meeting has now been pushed back to the planning commission’s January 20 meeting.
Gas Station/Convenience Store
The final agenda item involved a request to down-zone 7.34 acres at 1713 State Highway 321 South from I-1 (Industrial) zoning to B-2 (General Business) zoning to allow the development of both a gas station and a convenience store. Staff recommended approval, noting the 2024 comprehensive plan supports industrial and commercial development in that corridor.
One commissioner remarked that the gas station “would be compatible and kind of fit into that area real nicely,” given its proximity to existing industrial uses and the county maintenance depot.
Commissioner Ashley Mills asked if the gas station would operate as a gas station or a truck stop.
Toledo explained that either would be permitted to operate under B-2 zoning.
The Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval to county council for the down-zoning. Fairfield County Council has subsequently voted in favor of the rezoning.
