Tennis courts, brewery planned for property 

 

COLUMBUS—The Town of Columbus rezoned the old 4-H Center property from public service zoning to Highway Commercial in order for the new property owners to install four tennis courts and turn the building into a brewery.  

Columbus Town Council met last week and held a public hearing prior to approving the new zoning. No residents spoke during the public hearing.  

Grier Eargle said he currently has the property under contract and the property owners want to put four tennis courts in front of the building. In order to do that, he said, the property needs to be rezoned.  

Eargle said the advantage to the town if the property is developed is it will put it back on the tax rolls. The 6.5-acre property was formerly owned by the county and served for decades as the county 4-H Center.  

Eargle explained that the property owners are a group of individuals. He said the group is 25-30 individuals wanting to start a tennis club there with four tennis courts. Eargle said there are already two tennis courts on site, but there are trees growing out of them. The group plans to have four clay courts there and to utilize the 4-H building, which formerly was an old prison, for a brewery.  

“It’s in the part of town where most of our growth will be in the future,” said Columbus Mayor Eric McIntyre. “I think it would be a great use of that building.”  

McIntyre said it will also be good to put the property back on the tax rolls.  

During the most recent Columbus Planning Board meeting, the planning board approved recommending the rezoning. At that meeting, Eargle said the property owner may want to subdivide the land and sell the back three acres to someone who could create low income or multi-family housing units.  

The property is located on Locust Street, off East Mills Street in Columbus.