By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer
A 32.8-acre tract on Tyrone Road will have 15 home lots, not the 27
originally sought by developer Billy Brundage on behalf of owner Florene Adams.
County commissioners last week voted 3-2 to approve the Planning
Commission's recommendation that the property's
zoning category be changed from A-R (residential with minimum five-acre lots)
to R-70 (residential with minimum two-acre lots). Brundage and Adams had asked
for R-45 zoning, which requires that lots be a minimum of one acre.
Commissioner Harold Bost voted against the petition, saying that land
bordering the Adams property along 4,924 feet of its perimeter is zoned A-R,
while only 583 feet of adjacent property is zoned R-70. "It's right there in the middle of
A-R zoning," said Bost.
But R-70 is "a reasonable solution to this issue," said Commissioner Scott
Burrell. Some of the land bordering the Adams property also is zoned R-40, a
one-acre category, he pointed out.
Commissioner Glen Gosa voted against the proposal because Brundage had
attached to the request a plan for 27 homes, which would have been allowed under
R-45 zoning. "The project as submitted has been submitted with a different layout
in mind," he said.
The panel also approved approximately 20 homes on 45 acres on Busbin
Road after Tom Kerlin, whose property is across the road, spoke in favor of the request.
Owners are Don Scarbrough and Sam Jones. Randy Boyd acted as their agent.
Bost voted against this request as well, saying that almost 77 percent of the
perimeter of the parcel is bordered by land zoned A-R.
Harp's Crossing Baptist Church also received 4-1 approval, with Bost
opposed, to rezone 4.6 acres of its 15.64-acre
property from A-R to R-40 to bring the smaller parcel into the same zoning category
as the rest of the site.
The current church building straddles three lots, said Keith Turner, acting
as agent for the church. The church recently bought a 5.9-acre parcel and is thinking
of buying a house to the south of its property that is also zoned R-40, he said.
Commissioner Herb Frady suggested rezoning the entire parcel A-R, but
that would require starting the rezoning process all over again. Turner has been
to several meetings to rezone the property at the request of county planning staff.
Bost said the result would be worth the effort. He is worried the church could
one day sell the property and it would be developed in one-acre subdivision
lots. "My concern is what could happen,"
he said. "To rezone this R-40 doesn't do a thing to clean up what should have
been cleaned up a long time ago."
Burrell said the zoning change is a simple housekeeping matter. "There
are already four R-40's, five if they purchase the house. That sounds simple tome.
I don't know what the issue is," he said.
"The church has been there 20 years," said Chairman Robert Sprayberry.
"We asked them here, and I think we ought to solve their problem."