GORDON COUNTY
PLANNING and ZONING COMMISSION MEETING
APRIL 11, 2022
The Gordon County Planning Commission held a Public Hearing on Monday, April 11, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Gordon County Administration Building for the purpose of hearing variance and zoning change requests.
Members present were:
Randy Rule, Sabrina Poole, Jerry Lovelace, Nathan Serritt, and Eddie Smith
Randy Rule called the meeting to order and advised all present of the sign-up sheets available for those who wish to address the Planning Commission on any of the zoning or variance change applications.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Nathan Serritt to approve the minutes of the previous meeting of March 14, 2021. Eddie Smith seconded the motion. All voted aye. The minutes were approved as written.
REZONING APPLICATION #Z22-05, JIM CALHOUN (appl.) ARNOLD & TIMNA HOOLEY (owner)
Chairman Rule read rezoning application #Z22-05, Jim Calhoun (appl.) and Arnold and Timna Hooley (owner), requesting to rezone 10.74 acres located at 3330 Nickelsville Road, Resaca from A-1 to I-2. Jim Calhoun represented the request explaining that he wants to purchase the existing wood yard and start manufacturing wood pallets at this site. Lisa Rogers Smith spoke in opposition to the rezoning stating that her mother owns the adjoining 80 acres with cattle and they are concerned with the additional traffic and noise. Mr. Calhoun responded that currently 6-8 trucks a day enter the wood yard and there would only be 2 more daily at his facility and that the noise concerns should be minimal since manufacturing will be done in a closed building. All adjoining property owners had been notified.
Jerry Lovelace made the motion to approve the rezoning application identified as #Z22-05 from A-1 to I-2 with the stipulations if the business ever ceases to exist then the property would revert back to A-1 zoning before any other heavy industrial company could develop the property. Nathan Serritt seconded the motion. All voted aye. The recommendation for approval was sent to the Board of Commissioners.
VARIANCE APPLICATION #V22-03 & REZONING APPLICATION #Z22-06, DARRYL EDWARDS
Chairman Rule read variance application #V22-03 and rezoning application #Z22-06, Darryl Edwards for 129.94 acres located at 6624 Fairmount Hwy., Calhoun. Brandon Bowen, an attorney, Darren Hardin, a partner, and Christian Witter, with Starlight Homes represented the requests explaining that the request for the variance is to reduce the minimum lot size from 10,000 square feet to 8,000 square feet, (60 square feet minimum lot width and 60 square feet minimum county road frontage). The rezoning request is to rezone from A-1 to R-3. It was explained that they would like to develop this property with Starlight Homes being the builder, to construct 395 new homes in phases over the next 5 years. 21% of this property would be green space and they would meet all standards for county roads. Mr. Bowen added that Gordon Counties future land use map shows this area as emerging suburban. Mr. Hardin stated that Starlight Homes was a quality builder and this would be a great location for this development. William Thompson, a local attorney representing Faye and Kenneth Prather spoke in opposition to the requests with concerns that the access to this development will not meet the GDOT requirements, that city sewer might not be possible, as well as concerns about fire safety, police protection, and traffic were mentioned. Other area and concerned property owners spoke with concerns such as site plan not being accurate, run-off, and additional traffic. Those speaking in opposition were: Nathan Roberts, Jerry Weaver, Jennifer Burchett, and Lisa Rogers Smith. Jim Perkins spoke in support of the requests stating that Gordon County needs additional housing. Again the representative for the request spoke with answers to the concerns of those opposed and stated that they would have to meet all requirements to treat the runoff, and that they were not concerned with any road blocks from the City of Calhoun or GDOT. All adjoining property owners had been notified.
On rezoning application #Z22-06, Sabrina Poole and Nathan Serritt abstained from the vote. Eddie Smith stated that he does agree that Gordon County needs more housing but does not think this site is right for a development, so he made the motion to deny the rezoning request from A-1 to R-3. The motion dies with the lack of a second. Jerry Lovelace then made a motion to approve the request; again the motion dies with the lack of a second. Randy Rule then made a motion to deny the request. Eddie Smith seconded the motion. Randy Rule and Eddie Smith voted to deny and Jerry Lovelace was opposed to the motion. The vote was 2-1 to deny. The recommendation for denial was sent to the Board of Commissioners.
On variance application #V22-03, Sabrina Poole and Nathan Serritt abstained from the vote. Eddie Smith made the motion to deny the variance as requested to reduce the minimum lot size from 10,000 square feet to 8,000 square feet. Randy Rule seconded the motion. Jerry Lovelace voted against the motion. The vote was 2-1 to deny. The variance was denied. The thirty-(30) day appeal period was explained.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
There being no additional business, Jerry Lovelace made the motion to adjourn. Nathan Serritt seconded the motion. All voted aye. The meeting was adjourned at 7:21 p.m.
