Split Votes Lead To Re-Zoning, Annexation For Councilman
City Councilman Donald Wilson got his lot and two houses rezoned and annexed Monday night on 3-2 votes that overrode the recommendations of the Commerce Planning Commission.
Wilson owns two rental houses on a single lot on Westview Drive. He sought to have them rezoned from A-2 in the county to R-1 in the city so his tenants could save on water and sewerage rates and the city schools could receive tax revenue from the houses, he said.
The planning commission recommended denial of the request because of both the size of the lot and the fact that there are two houses on one lot.
Wilson left the room Monday night and did not participate in the matter.
Ward 4 Councilman Bob Sosebee pushed for the annexation of the lots and an R-3 zoning, arguing that without taking the property in, the city risks the creation of a future “island” of un-annexed property should other nearby lots be annexed.
Ward 3 and Ward 5 councilmen Mark Fitzpatrick and Richard Massey both opposed the rezoning and annexation on the grounds that the property would not conform to the city zoning ordinance in any zoning class.
Massey made a motion to accept the planning commission’s recommendation and deny the request. It died for lack of a second.
Fitzpatrick made a motion to send the matter back to the planning commission, but later withdrew the motion.
Mayor Pro Tem Dusty Slater made the motion to rezone the property R-3. Sosebee seconded the motion, and with the support of Ward 1 Councilman Wayne Gholston, the council rezoned the tract to R-3. Fitzpatrick and Massey voted against the motion.
On the same split, the council voted 3-2 to annex the property.
In the other zoning-related matter, the council decided to ask the planning commission to give more thought to its proposed amendment regarding utility buildings.
The plan was to allow up to two utility buildings per lot in the three zoning classes with the largest single-family lots — AR, R-1 and R1-E - and one per lot in the other zones. The major changes would be to increase the potential size of the utility buildings to 50 percent of “the footprint” of the dwelling unit, to limit utility buildings to one story and to require that the utility building be made of the same material as the house.
Sosebee objected to the one-story limitation, and indicated he was “not crazy about two outbuildings on one lot.”
Hardy pointed out that his residence is made of brick, but his utility building is constructed of wood.
“Would that be illegal?” he asked, to which planning director David Zellner replied, “Yes sir.”
Another Split Vote
The re-hiring of the city auditor for three years resulted in another split vote, this time 5-1 with Sosebee casting the dissenting vote.
The issue was not whether to continue with Wilcox & Bivins PC, which has conducted the city audits for six years. The point of contention was a three-year extension.
“This is nothing against Wilcox,” said Sosebee. “I just think every three years or every five years we should put the audit out for bid. We’re dealing with the public’s money.”
The contract estimates the cost at $40,000 to $45,000 a year.
Fitzpatrick made the motion to accept the three-year contract.
Other Business
Also on Monday night, the city council:
•voted to authorize Hardy to sign a “confidentiality agreement” with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia regarding “proprietary information” the city might be exposed to as it negotiates for the purchase of electricity from the proposed new nuclear power units at Plant Vogtle. The individual council members also signed such agreements, as did MEAG and Georgia Power.
•approved a $5,001 bid from Roy Beck for the old electric substation site off Maysville Road. His was the only bid on the surplus property.
•learned from Finance Director Steve McKown that through February, the city has taken in $1.5 million more than it has spent in this fiscal year. As usual, McKown pointed out that a lot of that money is special purpose local option sales tax revenue and that when it is spent, the positive cash flow trend will reverse. That figure was also boosted by the county’s reimbursement for a portion of a sewer line built to serve Steve Reynolds Industrial Boulevard.
