Friday, November 7, 2003

Council turns down mini-warehouses

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
Special to The Citizen

There was hardly a seat to be had at Palmetto's monthly City Council meeting Monday because of two rezoning requests that met with opposition from several citizens.

Janice A. Willis wanted to have her property at the intersection of Vine Street and the Atlanta & West Point Railroad rezoned from R-3, residential to C-3, general commercial.

Willis planned to use the property for mini-warehouse storage. Questions of noise, property value, traffic concerns and the prospect of dealing with rats and rodents were put forth by Diane Holloway of 216 William Street.

"I strongly object to it being rezoned. "Holloway said.

The council agreed with Holloway and denied the rezoning.

A similar fate was avoided by Steven Kopelman and Donald Rakestraw who proposed the rezoning of their property at 511 Toombs Street from R-2 residential to C-2 highway commercial. Kopelman and Rakestraw intended to make the single family residence on the property into a special events facility. Parking problems and capacity concerns brought the council to a standstill.

Councilman John L. Farr made a motion to deny the request, but did not receive a second. A motion to approve the rezoning was made by Councilman James Harper, but also went without a second. It was then Councilman Thomas Morrow's turn to motion that the plans be studied over the next thirty days and reconsidered at the December 1 meeting.

Gregory Rush of 520 Main Street stood up before the meeting was adjourned to champion the special event facility which he described as being "upscale" and "a great asset for Palmetto" which would bring in new tax dollars to the community.