Church on the Hill representatives rescinded a request to rezone property to light industrial after Algood officials indicated the proposal lacked the necessary support to pass.
City Manager Keith Morrison said the church called to withdraw the I-1 rezoning application before Thursday night’s meeting. Morrison said the city will now study potential changes to the general commercial zoning code to determine if certain trade shops could be added as allowed uses.
“There’s a reason to have light industrial, there’s a reason to have general commercial,” Morrison said. “So I think we need to really put thought into it, study it, make sure that maybe it is a conditional use and that there are specific conditions that are met like maybe trade shops, but there needs to be limitations on it.”
Morrison said the city attorney suggested reviewing the general commercial classification to see if it could accommodate businesses like plumbers, electricians, and general contractors. The planning commission will spend the next month evaluating the pros and cons of such a change before making any recommendations.
“I think when we start changing the zoning in general and the codes we lose more control,” Commission Member Nissa Norris said. “If we change what our general our zoning is, if we allow more provisional things, properties can just be sold on a whim.”
Developer Mike Bartlett said he requested the initial rezoning because the current commercial designation does not allow for the trade shops that would be his primary tenants. Bartlett said he had proposed the change to keep the property deal moving forward after learning the original request was likely to be voted down.
“It fits the demographic of renters that we’re going to get,” Bartlett said. “So the commercial does not allow for any of the contractors or trade shops, which will be the primary source of our renters.”
Morrison said the property remains for sale and the church is entertaining several offers. He said any future purchaser would have to meet existing commercial requirements or file a new request for a zoning change.
“I think that they kind of knew that it wasn’t going to pass,” Norris said. “So you know they made the decisions based on that and you know they wanted to bring it back to us for more clarification on why we recommended it and you know that’s that’s our job.”
Small business owner Erin Conner said a traffic study conducted in January showed more than 65,000 cars passed her home near the property over a 14-day period. Conner said while she is concerned about traffic safety and speeding, she would prefer a small-scale development over a large retail center.
“If I had a vote I would much rather have these 20 little buildings than a huge massive something else,” Connor said.
Morrison said the city will hold a joint work session with the planning commission, the city council, and the Board of Zoning Appeals on December 3 to discuss the zoning code and the roles of each board.
In other business, Morrison said a new 12-inch water line on Main Street is nearing completion and has significantly improved fire hydrant flow downtown. Morrison said the city has also reduced sewer system inflow and infiltration by approximately 15.5 percent following recent rehabilitation work.