Jeff Whitten, correspondent.
Bryan County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a measure aimed at bringing 15 emergency warning sirens to Bryan County – a dozen of which will go in less densely populated North Bryan, where an April 2022 tornado killed one person while leaving a swath of destruction from Pembroke to Black Creek, Blitchton and Ellabell.
The tornado, an EF-4 with winds reaching 185 mph, caused an estimated $17 million in damage, county officials said, and reportedly led to the largest insurance claim by a county government in state history.
By contrast, Tuesday’s vote by the County Commission at its monthly meeting in Pembroke commits Bryan County to spending $129,471.18 on the Georgia Emergency Management Agency project, which has an overall cost of more than $325,000.
Bryan County applied to GEMA for the siren installation in April 2023, according to County Administrator Ben Taylor who said each siren can be heard from a minimum of a mile away.
In North Bryan sirens will be placed at the fire station on Bacontown and Webster Road; Stevens Grove Cemetery; the court house in Pembroke; at Pearl and Flemington Road; at Fire Station No. 4; at Countryside and Homestead Drive; in Hendrix Park; at Fire Station No. 5 on Highway 280; on Highway 204 at Wade Carter Road; at the Bryan EMS station on Highway 204; and on Tar City Road.
In South Bryan sirens will be located on Timber Trail at the recreation park; at Richmond Hill Middle School and at Bryan County’s Fire station No. 1 near the South Bryan Administration complex and Henderson Park.
Bryan County, along with Pembroke and Richmond Hill, already offers residents the CodeRED emergency notification system, which sends such notifications by phone, text, email and social media to those who sign up for the service on the county website.
In a somewhat related measure, commissioners on Tuesday also approved spending $130,850 to provide technology to the courtroom in the Bryan County Courthouse. It is expected to reopen in August, Taylor said.
In other business:
• Commissioners approved rezoning some 165 acres off Highway 80 near Bulloch County from agricultural to industrial at the request of Dallas, Texas-based Stravinski Capital Management, which intends to build warehouses. But the approval came with conditions, including a traffic study and transportation improvement agreement – including timelines and funding agreements for improvements to Warnell Farm Road and its intersection with Highway 80. Land in the area is already zoned industrial.
• Tabled a vote on plans to add 104 single family homes and 102 townhomes on 47 acres in Waterways in South Bryan. Requested by Savannah Landholdings, the project is on hold until water and sewer agreements between the county and Richmond Hill are finished.