MORGAN COUNTY
The Morgan County Board of Commissioners held its first monthly meeting this past Tuesday to discuss multiple agenda items.
After a scheduled public comment began the meeting, board chairman Ben Riden called to accept the minutes from the November 15 meeting as well as the minutes from the special called meeting that was held on November 30.
In that special meeting, the board approved about $10 million worth of bond money to help fund a $19 million recreation expansion project. Plans include five multipurpose fields and other public amenities, such as walking trails and a large community center.
Once the board got through the consent agenda, new business dealing with the planning commission was brought to the table.
DL Properties of Georgia, LLC requested that the county rezone 16.89 acres on Bonner Lane from agricultural use to commercial use.
DL Properties is a paving company that has other locations across the county that help with the distribution of products, raw materials and equipment. The proposed zoning map showed about 10 acres of the land was to be used for a parking lot where company vehicles could park, and another five acres for a retention pond.
The original request was made to the planning commission back in July but was tabled for a later date because an adequate future site plan was not submitted.
The company’s attorney, Dick Schmidt, spoke with the board about specifics after the planning commission gave its side of the story.
“The staff, until today, had not recommended against approving this. In fact, there were two staff reports that were neutral on the subject,” Schmidt said. “The zoning board voted 6-1 to approve this change. The real reason I believe they approved this change is that it makes more sense to put it here than anywhere else in the county.”
Schmidt continued to claim that he believed it wasn’t fully accepted initially due to the lack of future land use plan, but that it shouldn’t be the focus of the request.
“Georgia state code and the regs require that you have a future land use plan. There’s nothing in the code or in the regs that require you to follow that plan once it has been adopted,” Schmidt said. “It’s very clear that if you have a plan that you should follow that plan, but there’s nothing that requires you to do that if it makes sense not to. In fact, the specific language says, ‘they may be required to follow a submittal,’ not required to follow.”
After Schmidt spoke on behalf of DL Properties, Riden opened the floor up for public comments, all of which were against the rezoning.
Jim Brooks is a member of the surrounding community, and he was the first to speak against the plan.
“This is it for the owner, but this is not it for the people that live adjacent to that and this community. I represent two neighbors who could not be here, but I have their permission to express their concern,” Brooks said. “You invest to live in a community, not a commercial zone. This is a concern, so I’m asking [the board] for common sense judgment.”
Other members of the community also pointed out that pollution could also come as a result of building these structures on the land in question.
By the end of the discussion, Schmidt retracted the request in hopes that DL Properties and the county can come to an agreement later on in the future.
The meeting ended with the board’s regular new business. This included approving the purchase of emergency equipment for sheriff's office vehicles and infield tune-ups at Bill Wood Park.
Morgan County’s next BOC meeting will be held on Dec. 20 at 5 p.m.