Rezoning request to get third look from officials
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 14, 2011 1:46 PM
Wayne County Commissioners Tuesday will take up several planning-related issues including changes to the procedure used in renaming county roads and a second vote on a rezoning request.
An agenda briefing will start at 8 a.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county Courthouse Annex. The meeting will start at 9 a.m.
Tuesday will mark the third time that a rezoning request by John Harrell will be considered by commissioners.
Harrell wants the county to rezone about 10 acres of land on the west side of Woodland Church Road near U.S. 13 in Brogden Township from Residential-Agriculture 20 to Village District.
The rezoning would allow the property to be used for residential or small commercial use. The current zoning does not allow commercial use.
Harrell has said he hopes the rezoning would make the property more attractive to potential buyers.
No one spoke for or against the request during a public hearing last month.
Commissioners earlier this month voted 5-2 to rezone the property. Commissioners Andy Anderson and Jack Best voted against the rezoning.
Commissioners, at the recommendation of county attorney Borden Parker, will take a second vote since the initial vote was not unanimous.
Best and Anderson argued that the county needed to know what would go on the property before rezoning it. They also said rezoning the land could result in the county losing what control it has over zoning.
Best was concerned, too, as to how the zoning could impact Seymour Johnson Air Force Base when the next generation of aircraft arrives.
The property is within the one-half mile extension of the base noise area, but is outside the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base noise levels and accident potential zone.
The county has received a letter from base officials saying that the request is compatible with the land use information in the Air Installation Compatible Use Zone Report and that they have no objection to rezoning.
The county Planning Board has asked commissioners to review the road-naming ordinance.
At its meeting last Tuesday the Planning Board tabled a request to rename a section of road named Harper Ham Road to Dyke Smith Road. The 1.2-mile road stretches between Rodell Barrow Road in Wayne County and Oakdale Road in Greene County.
Approximately 200 feet of the road is in Wayne County -- the remainder is in Greene County and is named Dyke Smith Road. There are no residences on the Wayne County portion of the road.
County rules require that public hearings on road name changes must be held at the first meeting in March. The wording was put in place in 1991 when the roads were named because the county was receiving numerous requests for name changes.
The county receives few such requests now, County Manager Lee Smith said.
Smith is recommending the date requirement be removed from the ordinance. He said that he does not think a public hearing would be required to amend the ordinance.
The Planning Board has recommended the road name change, and Smith is recommending that commissioners schedule a public hearing on the proposed change for 9:15 a.m. on April 19 in their meeting room.
The board also will consider approval of three subdivision plats:
* Wesley and Todd Thornton final; owner/developer Kathy and Harold Thornton and Louise Hood, one lot on U.S. 13 South in Grantham Township
* Jason and Georgia Mitchell and Melissa and Harris Spell final; owner/developer Joe Thomas Mitchell; two lots on Stevens Mill Road in Grantham Township
* John Michael Bulla final; owner/developer John M., John H. and Elaine Bulla, two lots, Hooks Road in Great Swamp Township.
Commissioners will hold a work session on the county's 2009-10 audit and county finances.