The first issue dealt with was an application from Chapelwood Methodist Church on Whitehead Road for a special use approval to change the entranceway to the church and relocate parking spaces on the property to accommodate it. Staff recommended approval, and it passed unanimously.

Another special-use application, for an addition to the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Epps Bridge Parkway, was recommended for approval with conditions and passed with the condition that the entrance drive be widened.

The application by REL Development for rezoning on Barnett Shoals Road from AR (agricultural residential) to RS-40 (single-family residential), with a staff recommendation for denial, drew considerable public input in opposition. Residents of that area who opposed the application included Dan Fletcher, Bill Paul, Roberta [whose last name I missed], and Jo Blase, as did Beth Gavrilles, representing Athens Grow Green, who pointed to the incompatibility of the proposal with the Land Use Plan. Discussion by Planning Commission members included concerns about setting an unfortunate precedent, extending sprawl into a scenic, rural area, and the assertion that the cost of servicing developed areas exceeds the increase in tax revenues. A motion to deny the application passed unanimously.

A second REL rezoning application, for another proposed subdivision on Double Bridges Road along the Oglethorpe County line, had been withdrawn before the meeting, and a request to rezone property on Colima Avenue from single-family residential to commercial had been tabled at the applicant's request.

A petition by United Parcel Service for a special use permit to expand the paving on their Conway Drive site also prompted some extended discussion by Commission members concerning the conditions recommended by staff. There were some differences of opinion over whether to require UPS to build sidewalks (required in the EO/Employment Office zone) that will have no use in the foreseeable future. The final vote required adding to the proposed plan two handicapped parking spaces, landscaped islands in the parking lot, and construction of a sidewalk along Conway Drive but not on the Conway Circle side of the property.

Three text amendments to the zoning ordinance were considered. The first, declaring multifamily dwellings as a "special use," -- which would require action by the A-CC Commission for each project - involved considerable discussion of the purpose of the requested amendment and about some possible overlapping of the functions of the ad hoc committee recently created by the Mayor and Commission and the mission of the Planning Commission. Eventually, a motion to deny the request for the amendment passed unanimously. The second text amendment, to regard commercial parking structures or lots as a special use in the CG (Commercial General) district passed 7-2. And the issue of amending the Corridor Designation Map will receive further consideration by staff and be submitted at a later time.

Finally, the Planning Commission meetings will apparently continue to be scheduled for the first Thursday of each month, since changes in the A-CC Commission meeting schedule will not necessitate a change.

Charles Apostolik