6/13/2011 Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes
The Gordon County Planning & Zoning Commission held a Public Hearing on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Gordon County Administration Building for the purpose of hearing variance and zoning change requests.
Chairman Talley 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. Chairman Talley also welcomed guest and Board of Commissioners’ Chairman, Judy Bailey.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Ricky Smith to approve the minutes of the previous meeting of May 9, 2011. Brad Rains seconded the motion. All voted aye. The minutes were approved as written.
VARIANCE APPLICATION #V11-02 & REZONING APPLICATION #Z11-03, JOHNNY M. BROWN
Chairman Talley read variance application #V11-02 and rezoning application #Z11-03, Johnny M. Brown requesting a variance and to rezone 3.66 acres located at 180 Pulpwood Road, Sugar Valley. Mr. Brown along with Keith Ford, Director of Terminal Operations with AmeriGas Propane, LP, represented the requests explaining that the variance was needed because they only had 19.79 feet of the required 125 feet of county road frontage and that the existing building and 600 foot rail spur located on the property would require a 500 foot buffer strip in Industrial uses with nuisance features. The zoning request is to rezone from C-G to I-2. Mr. Brown has the opportunity to lease this property to AmeriGas Propane if both the applications are approved. Mr. Ford explained that his company would like to conduct a LPG Trans Loading operation on Mr. Brown’s property. Trans Loading operations consist of transferring LPG from a LPG rail tanker car into a LPG tractor trailer by the use of a transfer unit that is designed in accordance with NFPA. The transfer unit is motorized, self contained, and equipped with safe guards as required by the Fire Code. He also added that the transferring operation was to be only operational during daylight hours unless in the case of an emergency and the noise should not be considered a nuisance. Juanita Evans, an adjoining property owner, spoke in opposition to the requests with concerns of smell, noise, road safety, and health issues. Planning Commission members also voiced other concerns and Mr. Ford assured the members that the operation was very safe. All adjoining property owners had been notified.
Paige Hatley, with MACTEC acting as the Planning Consultant for Gordon County, recommends that the variance request identified as Application #V11-02 and rezoning request identified as Application #Z11-03 both be denied. Brad Rains noted that he felt that this property should have been grandfathered in because of the fact that the 600 foot rail spur was already there when the ULDC was adopted. Mr. Brown also noted that another trucking company had been using this property in the past and that they loaded at all hours of the day and night. On Variance application #V11-02, Ricky Smith made the motion to approve the variance as requested. Brad Rains seconded the motion. Ron Free voted against the motion. The vote was 3-1 to approve. The variance was granted. The thirty- (30) day appeal period was explained. On Rezoning application #Z11-03, Ricky Smith made the motion to approve the rezoning from C-G to I-2. Randy Rule seconded the motion. Ron Free voted against the motion. The vote was 3-1 to approve. The recommendation for approval was sent to the Board of Commissioners.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
Gordon County Commissioners’ Chairman Judy Bailey addressed and joined in a discussion with the Planning Commission Members on the issue of the Gordon County Ordinance Officer. Chairman Bailey stated that the entire Board of Commissioners was in agreement that the Ordinance Officer position should be supervised by the Sheriff so that the Officer could be P.O.S.T certified. The current Ordinance Officer has and is still in the process of acquiring his certifications.
There being no additional business, Ricky Smith made the motion to adjourn. Brad Rains seconded the motion. All voted aye. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
