T-Mobile South received special use permits Tuesday to construct two 150-foot cell phone towers in rural Douglas County, thanks to a Board of Commissioners (BOC) re-vote ordered by a federal judge.

The action came at the 6 p.m. monthly Planning and Zoning meeting in the county courthouse. At these meeting, the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board votes to recommend either approval or denial of the requests and the BOC has the final vote. The T-Mobile request required only BOC action.

The U.S. District Court, North District, remanded the permit requests back to the planning and zoning hearing for reconsideration by the BOC. The BOC rejected, by 4-1 votes, both requests at a July 7 joint meeting of the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) and BOC. District 4 Commissioner David Latham cast the sole dissenting votes on both requests. T-Mobile filed suit and won the remand.

“There’s probably not a commissioner here who would like to change his mind,” Commission Chairman Tom Worthan said before the vote, “but I feel it’s in the best interest to approve this.”

The vote will allow T-Mobile South to build a 150-foot communications tower at 3679 Spivey Drive, with the stipulations that the tower be a pine tree design, the tract be landscaped under supervision on the county arborist and E-911 be given space, if needed, for antennas.

The second T-Mobile 150-foot tower will be a monopole design on Mt. Vernon Road, with requirements of landscaping, driveway approval from the Department of Transportation and E-911 antenna space.

In other action, the boards approved a request by JLB Development Inc. for rezoning from R-LD (low density residential) to C-G (general commercial) of 33.35 acres near the Georgia Highway 92/166 intersection.

The developer plans to build a retail center and office complex which will include a 24-hour Kroger supermarket. Despite objections from three nearby residents, both the P&Z Board and the BOC gave unanimous approval to the application.

After the vote, District 3 Commissioner Mike Mulcare said approval was in the long-term benefit to the nearby neighborhood. He said two “big box” retailers were originally interested in the lot, but didn’t get rezoning approval. It was followed by an application for a 100-unit condominium, he said. He called Tuesday’s vote “the best option.”

Other P&Z actions included unanimous approval of the following:

• a special use permit request by Truth and Deliverance Ministries Inc. to allow a church in a planned center on property at 2118 Fairburn Road;

• the five-year partial update of the county’s comprehensive land use plan, adoption of the updated county zoning map and a resolution updating the 2025 comprehensive plan;

• and several amendments to the unified development code including those on property owners associations, major subdivisions, guarantees in lieu of completed improvements and procedures for final plat approval.