Members of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors recently made the first steps to pave the way for an upcoming Kia dealership on U.S. 98 in the Bellevue area.
At the Feb. 7 board meeting, supervisors approved a conditional use for the dealership, which will be located at the property adjacent to Rainforest Carwash and across from Corner Market on U.S. 98. The board also granted a minor façade variance for the site.
“(That was) a variance of the brick-and-mason façade requirements,” Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said. “They’ve got a standard design from their Kia franchise, and we accepted that.
“So those two things cleared the way.”
Next, the franchisees will seek site plan approval, which Lamar County Engineer Don Walker is currently working through with the dealership’s engineering representatives. After suprevisors accept that site plan – which is expected to happen within the next board meetings – dealership officials will work under their own timeline.
“I don’t know what their construction timeline would be,” Waits said.
Kevin Crawford and Rick Loggins, members of the nearby Cumberland Subdivision Homeowners Association, addressed the board regarding some concerns they had about the dealership. That neighborhood is located directly south of where the dealership would be located.
“They had some concerns where they were working with the developer, and the Kia dealership themselves, and they just came to let the board know their concerns,” Waits said. “They were complimenting our planning department for helping facilitate that, and they were just after some green space, some buffering, between the dealership and their neighborhood.
“The folks representing the developer and the Kia dealership complied and worked that out with them.”
Waits said he thinks the upcoming dealership will fit in well with the current offerings in that area.
“We’re happy that those guys are moving into Lamar County,” he said. “We welcome, certainly, the increase in ad valorem, which would produce more taxes for us.
“It certainly fits what’s being developed out in that area. There are other car dealerships there – or that are being built in that area – and they are complying with all the requirements the county has, as far as the way it looks and fits in the community. So we’re glad to have them come to Lamar County.”
