The Jones County Board of Commissioners dealt with zoning requests, cleaned up one text amendment and approved beginning another at their first meeting in November.
Chairman Chris Weidner called the Nov. 4 meeting to order. The chairman also led the opening prayer and pledge.
Zoning officer Tim Pitrowski presented each of the four zoning requests to the board before the petitioners came forward for more explanation.
The first request was a conditional use to allow an auto repair shop on Bowen Hill Road. Following a short discussion, Commissioner John Wood made the motion to approve the request, with the inclusion of the staff recommendation for all repairs to be done inside the building. The motion passed unanimously.
A request was made to build a barndominium-type home with metal siding on Stagecoach Road. Commissioner Sam Kitchens made the motion to approve, and it passed unanimously.
The next request was a conditional use to allow a single wide on Harris Morton Road.
The property owner made the request in order for her grandson to live there.
Wood made the motion to approve, and it passed unanimously.
Another request was made to place a singlewide on Woodward Drive to become a mother- in-law type suite. Kitchens made the motion to grant the request, and it was approved unanimously.
The final zoning item was a request to allow a rehearing of a zoning request that was denied by commissioners Oct. 7. Kitchens asked what was different from the original request. A letter from the petitioner stated the property had been rezoned commercial, but he would like to reverse that and add three residential units.
The commissioner said the property is in the commercial corridor and made a motion to deny the rehearing. The motion to deny was approved unanimously.
The board approved the reappointment of Earline Hamilton to the Historic Preservation Commission for another threeyear term.
Visitor
Gary Branch talked to board members about issues on East Colonial and Stagecoach Road. He said the road was in such poor condition that vehicles had to use the shoulder of the road to go round holes and breaks in the pavement.
“The road is not drivable,” he stated.
County Administrator Jason Rizner said Stagecoach Road is closer on the repaving list, which was estimated at the next two to three years, but East Colonial would be much longer.
Branch said the roads are dangerous and said something needs to be done.
Rizner said the delay is because, in order to fix the roads, a full-depth reclamation would have to be done. That process is expensive and takes time.
Weidner said the cost of the process has skyrocketed and was the reason it was taking so long. He said the county could only move as fast as the funds were available.
Kitchens said the transportation one-cent sales tax would have funded the projects, but as it stands now the only option is to try to repair the road.
“We have to look at the worst areas, the problem is the base of the roads are falling apart,” he said.
Old Business
There was no New Business, and the first Old Business item was to formally rescind the data center text amendment that was approved in September.
Attorney William Noland, who was standing in for County Attorney Ashley Brodie, said rescinding the vote was the best way to clean up the issue. With the 90-day moratorium in place, there can be no data center applications.
Kitchens made the motion to rescind the data center text amendment, and it was approved unanimously.
The second reading and approval of the Amendment to the Purchasing Ordinance was the next item. The amendment gives additional points to local vendors for county projects during the bid process.
Kitchens made the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
The final Old Busines item was presented by Rizner. It was to begin the process to approve a text amendment for the “elevation of structure relative to road.”
The administrator said the purpose is to correct issues with structures being built below the level of the road that causes draining problems. Those issues are expensive and sometimes impossible to correct.
Weidner said the amendment is a great idea and had previously been overlooked.
Commissioner Daylon Martin expressed concerns that the amendment could add costs to the permitting process.
“We need to consider the long-term impact. I don’t see the need of the added expense for all subdivisions,” he said.
Wood said the addition has been needed for years, and the added protection for homeowners is needed.
Rizner said amendment is especially needed in the city.
Kitchens made the motion to start the text amendment process.
“We don’t want to allow people to make their own problem,” he said.
The motion was approved 4-1 with Martin opposed.
The meeting was adjourned to enter closed session for personnel. At the conclusion of the session, the meeting was reopened only to be adjourned with no additional action taken.
The next meeting of the Board of Commissioners is Nov. 18.
