Stephens County Commission Denies Rezoning Request
One of the issues at this week’s Stephens County Commission meeting concerned the rezoning request from Michael Russ Addison of Spring Branch Circle. Addison was requesting to rezone his property from residential single family to agricultural residential.
A number of citizens spoke in favor of the request. Land Owner Amanda Williams Addison said why they were asking for the rezoning. “Stephens County is a rural county that once had a strong Ag. presence. My middle child is now in high school and a member of the FFA. He has the ability to show animals, just like I did, and we deserve to house those animals on our land, not in our front yard. Rezoning to residential Ag. makes sense. We are not asking for Ag. Intensive. We do not want a farm. We meet the qualifications and this will allow me to have my hobby animals. We need to be able to rely on ourselves to put food on the table. This past year taught us just that. Have you been to the grocery stores and seen the bare shelves? So why should we be restricted from using my land to provide for my family?”
Attorney John Dickerson spoke on behalf of the neighboring residents of Circle East. “The most important thing for all of us to understand is that we are a system of laws. There is alaw that provides a method that Mr. Addison can seek to put some limitations on his agricultural use. But, your own ordinance that provides for Land Use planning defines agricultural uses, and those uses that they define are certainly something that I have not heard Mr. Addison intends and I respect that.”
Dickerson told the commission that approval of the rezoning could lead to other issues. “If you allow this rezoning as he has requested, he would have a right if he so chose, or if he sold his property and someone else bought it, they would have the right to put a feed lot, that is in your ordinance. They would have the right to put a poultry house, that is in your ordinance. The would have the right to put a turkey farm, that is in your ordinance. They would have the right to have an expansive use under the agricultural definition in your own ordinance. Your own ordinance goes on to provide that if a plan is presented to you as the deciders, without a site plan, there is a legal presumption that request would be harmful to the neighbors.”
The request was denied after a 2-2 deadlock. Commissioners Debbie Whitlock and Dennis Bell voted in favor, and Commision Chair Michelle Ivester and Dean Scarborough voted no with commissioner James Addison abstaining due to a family connection.
Ivester explained why the request was denied. “There are times in this county when we have to make decisions based on zoning on whether something is appropriate for agriculture or residential, and this is one of those cases that this property was in a subdivision, but I don’t think any of the commissioners are opposed to her having her show goats and the chickens that she is proposing.”
Ivester and the commission encouraged the family to return with a different request. “This is an instance, and we don’t have these often, where both sides can walk away a winner. The residential side wins because the zoning is going to remain residential, and the homeowner wins because she will be able to come back very quickly for a conditional use and bring it to us to request having some show goats and a few chickens on her property, and I feel confident in saying that will be approved. So I feel like this was a win-win situation. We are not against agriculture, none of us are, we are each proponents of Ag. in this community that is why we want her to have her animals on her property.”
Other requests for rezoning during the Land Use Public Hearing was approved. Matthew King on Camp Road in Eastanollee was rezoned from residential single to agriculture residential for a mini-farm. Thomas Limbach on Anderson Thomas Road in Martin was rezoned from agriculture intensive to agriculture residential for residential dwellings. Stephen Coker on Mize road in Toccoa was rezoned from from agriculture residential to commercial residential, and Brian Watkins on Hayes/Wilbanks rd. was rezoned from agriculture residential to residential multi-family for a RV Park.