Como Springs Resort redevelopment gets site plan approval

The site plan for the redevelopment of the Como Springs Resort at 805 E. Como Springs Road has received a green light from the Morgan County Commission. Developer Granda Real Estate has been working on plans for the site since receiving conditional use approval from the commission in October 2022.

At the resort, Granda plans to develop 68 RV sites, a village of 24 cabins with walking paths, a new restaurant/clubhouse, a new bathroom/shower facility, a pavilion, and a playground. Development will occur in three phases. The first will include a recreational vehicle park with bathroom/shower facilities. Phase 2 will include a cabin and camping area and in Phase 3 the developer will add a restaurant. Both of the property’s rights-of-way were resurfaced with asphalt from the bridge to Spring Street (100 South) last summer.

Morgan City will provide utilities to the project and has signed off on water and sewer requirements, Assistant County Planner Jeremy Lance told the county commission at their March 12 meeting. The project is located in an agricultural zone where private or public recreational facilities are an allowed use.

In the past, nearby residents have been concerned about increased traffic and whether the nearby bridge could withstand the load of larger RVs. To address these concerns the conditional use approval had required that a traffic study for the resort be completed. Along with determining that traffic from the resort would not be excessive, that study found that the bridge, which has a 20,000 weight limit, should be sufficient for traffic to and from the resort even at buildout, County Planner Josh Cook said.

However, with the narrowness of the bridge, Commissioner Jared Anderson said it was important that there was signage to warn motorists.

“On the bridge, we do have signage, a stop sign on either side, and no waiting or no stopping,” Mike Derchi, of Gardner Engineering, an engineer for the developer responded. ‘There's a county access just north of the bridge itself so we're going to put a no stopping or  blocking the access for the county.” 

“So we just feel that it's [appropriate] historically with the use up there and from the traffic study, the peak counts each day,  that the issue with traffic could be mitigated,” he said.

The issue of  “Jumbo” RVs that could possibly exceed the bridge’s weight limit was also addressed. Those vehicles will access the resort from a separate entrance, said Mark Mitchell who is helping Granda develop a management plan for the resort. They will also be met by a park manager who will guide them into the park through the 100 South entrance, he said.

Within the resort to accommodate larger RVs, the developer has reduced the RV spaces planned by two to accommodate larger RVs, Mitchell said. All of the road widths in the resort will be realigned to accommodate larger vehicles, “so there'll be ample room and radiuses for vehicles and the trailers to make the corners, and there are multiple pull-through sites and there are several smaller sites,” he said. λ