Jerry Wyrosdick, of Long Branch Entertainment business is hopeful that he will have a conditional use request approved on a piece of property in time for an upcoming motorcycle rally on August 10th, 11th, and 12th. Wyrosdick, who was at the Pickens County Planning Commission on Monday, is requesting that a 193.22 acre piece of property on behalf of Lonnie C. Bird Baxter receive a conditional use request to allow for a music and event venue by Long Branch Entertainment.

The property, located out on Long Branch Road in Ranger, GA, was originally used by Arcadia Wildlife Reserve, but has not been used for anything in the last 15 years. Wyrosdick told the commission on Monday that now they would like a conditional use request for the piece of property so the property could be used again to keep the property from “going downhill.” Wyrosdick also told the commission that Long Branch Entertainment plans to use the property mostly for music events, such as bluegrass festivals, battle of the bands, and gospel music concerts, but would also use the property for special events, such as weddings and corporate retreats.

The decision to approve the request was postponed on Monday after Picken’s County Planning and Development Director Joey Lowe said he would like to have a meeting between Long Branch Entertainment representatives and County representatives to make sure the venue would be managed properly. Some of the concerns of the Planning Commission about the venue are noise pollution and safety issues. However, Wyrosdick told the Commission in the meeting that the 193 acres of property is actually located in the middle of 400 acres owned by the same property owner, so noise shouldn’t be a problem. Wyrosdick also told the commission that they plan to have at least 10 security guards at each event and a special access for police cars and ambulances.

The company is hopeful that the request will be approved in time before an upcoming motorcycle rally they have planned called Rally in the Valley. The event is scheduled for August 10th, 11th, and 12th and is already being advertised in places such as motorcycle magazine Full Throttle. This means the request would have to be approved before the event at the next July 26th Planning Commission meeting.

Editor of Full Throttle Magazine, Randy Snyder, who was at the commission meeting on Long Branch Entertainment’s behalf, when asked how he thought the property would benefit Pickens County, told FYN,

“I think overall that the property and the idea, not just from a motorcycle standpoint but just from a special events standpoint, is going to bring millions of dollars to the region.”

Wyrosdick, when asked if he was hopeful that he would get the request before the event, told FYN,

“Absolutely. If we don’t get it before the event then we stand to lose about $30,000.”

Also, at the Planning Commission Meeting on Monday, the Planning Commission approved a conditional use request for C.B Jones in order to allow for Recreational Vehicle Hookups and Laundry Facilities on Young Loop in Fairmount. The special use request will benefit Moto Mountain, an ATV park in Fairmount, by setting up 10 recreational vehicle hookups and a laundry facility. Before making the request, Moto Mountain first agreed to set up a 12 ft landscape buffer and a 6 ft privacy fence between them and a lumber company who owns property across the street formally known as Bowater. Moto Mountain manager Howard Roberts said in the meeting that they plan for people to use the recreational hookups for no more than 14 days at a time.

Lastly, Julie Timmons formerly of Pickens County, requested in the meeting that a .84 acre piece of property of her and husband, Stephen Timmons be rezoned from rural residential to highway business. Timmons said she was planning on using a house on the property as a location for her real estate office whenever she was in Pickens County and asked for the request because she is unable to put a sign on the property unless the property is zoned for business.

Ray Ferrell, a neighbor who lives two houses down from the property and had collected a petition of signatures against the rezoning, said one of the reasons he was against the property being rezoned is because he was afraid this could open the door for other businesses.

“If you open the door, then the cow gets out,”

said Ferrell. After other neighbors of the property chose to speak against the rezoning, the planning commission denied the request.

After the denial, Timmons then verbally amended her next request, which would have requested two acres to be rezoned from rural residential to suburban residential. Since the initial .84 acre piece of property in the first request is adjacent to the two acres, Timmons chose to amend her next request to reflect that her and her husband’s 2.84 acre piece of property be rezoned to suburban residential. Timmons said they were asking the second request so that they could divide the piece of property into two building lots. As a rule, any property zoned as rural residential must be at least 1.5 acres to have a home on the property, which is why the two acres required a zoning designation of suburburan residential. However, after the first request was denied, Timmons then verbally amended her second request to include the entire 2.84 to be rezoned to suburban residential. After Timmons made the request, the Planning Commission approved the rezoning.