Planning and Zoning - public_hearing

on different issues. I'd like to welcome you. This is our public hearing night, and I would like for you to, I would like for the board members to please introduce themselves and to tell you what district they represent. Starting with my left. Good evening.

Cynthia Fortson, District 5.

Kenneth Bradley, Vice Chair and District 1. Lee Mitchell, District 2.

William Smith, District 4.

Tracy Patrick, Home Administrator.

And we have our attorney. All right. I am required to read a public hearing statement. As a first order of business, I am required to read a few statements regarding the zoning process. If you have questions, I will address them once I finish. Zoning directly affects private property rights, which includes the right of the property owner to the enjoyment of the use of their property and the right of adjacent owners and the general public not to be unreasonably harmed by specific land use. Tonight is the first of two public hearings. A second will be held before the Board of Commissioners on, I believe, August the 3rd, 2026 at 6 p.m. at this location. Attendance is not required, but your attendance is recommended. As an order of business tonight, I will introduce the applicant And then the zoning administrator will give her comments. Then the applicant will come forward, state their name and address, and state their reasons for their request. You may provide information or documentation supporting the application. Next, Planning and Zoning Commissions will have the opportunity to ask the applicant questions. next i will open the floor for public comment ample time will be given to those that may want to speak for or in opposition of the result request i would ask that if someone has already spoken and said what you're going to say that may not be repetitive no all comments will be addressed to the commission and not to others in attendance no personal attacks will be allowed. Next, the applicant will be allowed ample time to rebut any concerns expressed by other speakers. At this junction, no other comments will be allowed except by the board members. Then I will open the special session of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Then I will ask for a motion to approve, deny, or approve with conditions. The recommendations will be presented Monday night, August the 4th, August the 3rd, for the Board of Commissioners. I repeat, we are a recommending board only. The final decision will be made by the Board of Commissioners. So then, members of the planning and zoning need to recuse themselves from any requests about this. Hearing none, we will begin with our first request.

Okay, so we've got three requests by the same person, and I believe, Chairman, that we're going to take this up as one vote. That's correct. So bear with me. I will read each application. So first is Jay Pridgen, applicant for Capital Resource Management, LLC, is requesting to re-own his five acres from A1 to AR to split a .50 acre portion of his property and a .50 acre portion of his adjoining property to move property lines to increase the size of the adjoining property from five to six acres. and to bring the property into compliance with zoning regulations. This property is located at 0 Sorrow Patterson Road in Colbert on Mount 58, parcel 81 in District 5. The second one is Jay Pridgen, applicant for capital resource management. He's requesting a re-zoned hip five acre tract from A1 to AR split half acre portion off of this property, half acre portion off the adjoining property to move property lines to increase the size of the adjoining property from five to six acres and to bring it into compliance with zoning requirements. Property is located at 0 Thoreau Patterson Road in Colbert, on Mount 58, Parcel 802 in District 5. And the third is Jay Pridgen, applicant for Capital Resource Management, to request and rezone his five acres from A1 to AR to allow a half acre portion from his two adjoining properties to be combined by moving property lines to increase the size of this tract from five to six acres and to bring the property into compliance with zoning regulations. Property is located at zero, Taro Patterson Road in Colbert, on Mount 58, parcel 803 in District 5.

All right, Mr. Friend, are you present? I am. Please come forward and tell us any additional information that you may need to know.

I think she did a great job explaining it like she just did. But that's basically what we're trying to do is just clean up the property line. Me and my daughter are building our houses right there. And I built one kind of right on the property line because I don't care what the property line was. I was going to move it. That way I didn't have to worry about it. But that's why we're moving this around is just to clean all the property lines up and, you know, make it conform to zoning regulations and everything else.

Because it was originally already split. As you can tell, we're not.

anything was already split we're just moving the property lines around to clean it up and make it go with your regulations all right does any board members have any questions for Mr. Prichard any questions no all right thank you sir all right at this point we will open the public hearing Is there anyone here that wants to speak for this rezone request, in favor of this rezone request? Hearing none, is there anyone here that wants to speak in opposition to this rezone request? Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing. I'll pray it back before the board, and I will entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Second. Motion to approve.

And a second.

Any questions or comments?

All right.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

All right. This has been approved, and we will recommend to the Board of Commissioners on August the 3rd that this reasonable request be approved. All right, moving on to number four. Four, five, six, and a seven, eight.

Four, five, six, seven, and eight. And I do believe we were going to take this up as one vote. So there's basically two properties that we're dealing with. Each property requires a rezone. Each property requires a conditional use. and one of the properties requires a variance. So I don't know if you guys want me to read all five of those, but I will be happy to.

Well, for the audience's sake, please do. Okay.

All right, so Dylan Wilbanks, applicant for Matthew Payne, is requesting to re-own his four acres from AR to R3 to place the property into a multi-family residential zone to bring into compliance for an existing group home. The property is located at 345 Furnace Creek Road in Danielsville on map 38, parcel 1401 in district one. The second one on the same track, Dylan Wilbanks, applicant for Matthew Payne, is requesting the conditional use for his four acres to allow a group home on the property. Property is located at 345 Furnace Creek Road in Danielsville on Mount 38, parcel 14-01 in District 1. The third one for this property is Dylan Wilbanks, applicant for Matthew Payne, is requesting a variance to allow an existing group home to remain closer to the left side property line at two points with deficit amounts of 21.6 feet and 33 feet. The property is located at 345 Furnace Creek Road in Danielsville, on Mount 38, parcel 1401 in District 1. And then we're on to the second property. Dylan Wilbanks, applicant for Matthew Payne, is requested to rezone his 6.14 acres from AR to R3 to place the property into a multi-family residential zone to bring it into compliance for an existing group home. The property is located at 289 Furnace Creek Road in Danielsville on Mount 38, parcel 14 in District 1. Dylan Wilbanks, applicant for Matthew Payne, is requesting a conditional use for his 6.14 acres to allow a group home on the property. The property is located at 289 Fernand Creek Road in Danielsville on Mount 38, parcel 14 in District 1.

All right. Mr. Wilbanks. Yes, sir. Any additional information you want to put before us tonight?

Yes, thank you for considering this issue. I appreciate y'all's time tonight. I'm not going to repeat a lot. I think Patrick did a really good job of kind of introducing the issue. I represent Divine Healing, and their executive director, Kagan Boswell, is here, and he's been operating this faith-based recovery program since 2023. We had sent a letter kind of going through What the program is, it offers a rehabilitation option that provides faith-based recovery and mentorship. And he adheres to the state guidelines for residential recovery centers. And we have a number of people here in support. If you're here in support of Divine Healing, if you would mind raising your hand. Certainly not inviting all those people to speak, but I wanted to let you know the community supports this. And it does provide a need that you know, may not be the most exciting thing to always talk about, but it's a need in the community. And we, again, really appreciate your consideration of these requests. I'm glad to answer any questions that you have on some of the more technical aspects. But we would ask that you accept the rezoning request.

All right. Is there any questions for Mr. Lewis?

Mr. Wilbanks, yeah. How many rooms are in each house?

So I'm going to ask Mr. Boswell, how many rooms are in each house? Three and four.

Okay.

And how many people are living in this home, in these two homes?

I think there's 14 when we apply, is that right? Yes, sir. There's less now, but there's a total of 14.

So that's more than two to a room?

No, it equals up to about two rooms. Because you've got...

Two rooms.

And bathrooms? Yes. One bathroom in each?

Oh, no. Two in each. Well, two and a half in one and then two in the other.

And what about cooking? Cooking facilities? Cooking.

They have the kitchens, yes, sir.

And they cook their own meal?

Yes, sir. They meal prep themselves, yes, sir.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else? You said this has been in operation since 2023? Yes, sir. That's correct. Okay. What process did you go through before opening up this?

So when When it comes to Madison County and understanding what was required, I don't know that they went through any process. I do believe the various county personnel were aware because when they started, they were just on one property and then they spread to the next property. The landlord, Mr. Payne, had the second property come available. But as far as getting the personnel in place, I think I kind of went through, there's a certification process they're working through. At the time I wrote my letter, I think they're about six months away from the certification. But generally, in order to operate one of these residential homes, there's not a licensing by the state required. So they're in compliance with anything that would be required like that. then when they realized that Madison County had other requirements that they might not be in compliance with, that's when they saw it to come through this resettlement process.

Okay, any further questions? Hearing none, thanks, sir. Thank you. All right, we will open the public hearing. And is there anyone that would like to come forward and speak in favor of these requests, which includes a variance of conditional use? Anyone want to speak in favor of this? I know you've raised your hand, but is there any one person that wants to speak in favor? All right. My name is Dave Stroop.

I am a pastor, retired, 40 years. A lot of men that are in the group home are a part of a program that we have on Wednesday nights where we have a men's group, and they come each Wednesday night. And we have the opportunity to pour into them, mentor with them, spend time getting to know them. And it's a ministry that we believe in highly at Southside Church because of the change that we're seeing. There have been a number of men who have come through this program, and we've all seen the tragedies that come from addictions and issues like that, but to see lives changed. that's a powerful thing. And so we support this ministry highly and would encourage you folks to work with them and allow them these petitions before you. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Where are you from? Sir? Sir? Sir? I got you. Somebody asked, well, you'll have an opportunity If you are not in favor of this, you're going to have to ask questions. We are.

Okay?

All right. Do you have a question, Dean?

Yeah. So are you a pastor that's a part of this group home?

We have a part in ministering with him, but we're not tied in as the pastor of of the group home, there's multiple churches that work with these folks, and we're just one of those churches.

Okay? I have a question. So, Mr. Payne, how is he, I mean, I know that he owns the property, but is he within the church as well? Yes, sir.

He is. I don't know all the arrangements on everything. I'm just part of working with the men. And I just wanted you to understand how we work with them and what God's doing in changing lives there. But Matt Payne is a part of Southside.

Okay. Any other questions from the board?

We normally don't ask questions of the public speakers, but only of the applicants. I was going to say.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be answering these questions. Is there anyone else who wants to speak in favor of? Yes. Okay, please come forward.

Thank you for the opportunity. My name is . I'm the campus pastor at Southside Church, our commerce campus. We have two campuses, one in Jackson County, Redstone, and then we're the one in Commerce. We just opened up about five years ago. If you've been to the movie theaters at the old Tanger Outlets, that is the south side that we are now. We just moved from where the Goodwill is behind a quick trip down to the movie theaters. I just want to give you some context of the area we've been in and where we're at. So I'm the campus pastor. I've had the privilege, I would say, for about three years now. We met Kagan. He approached us about the opportunity to bring his guys on a Wednesday night to be a part of us just pouring into them in our faith and helping them as much as that we can. For the past three and a half years, we cook and eat. I've seen multiple guys come through the program. I've seen guys be successful in it. I've seen guys not be successful in it, let's be, you know, reality of some people aren't ready for it to change. But I can tell you it's been a powerful ministry at our church. I have personally seen guys go through the program, get clean, get married, we at our campus have a gentleman there who went through, was actually part of the first group that came through. It's a year program he went through and then he stayed on another year to help with the program. But he is now clean, he's remarried, and him and his wife just had a baby and he's a part of our church, serving at our church. and areas and making a difference. So I just want to encourage you to accept the petitions that are there. I've seen the life change. I see these guys every single week on Wednesday. In fact, tomorrow night, we'll cook and eat. We'll feed them. We'll teach them the Bible and help them in every way we can to recover from drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and help them become a regular part of society and see some good things happen. So thank you very much. Thank you.

Sir, can I get your name one more time?

Yes, Cole Parker.

Cole?

Yes, C-O-L-E. Thank you. Okay, is there anyone else? If you've got anything different from what's already been said, please go vote. Ma'am?

My name is Brittany and I'm a friend and I lost my brother to fentanyl poisoning and the reason that I'm here tonight is because out of all years of his addiction, and the ups and downs, if you guys, if you're alive, I feel like you're probably touched by addiction and recovery in some way, but the best years of his life came from living in a home just like this one. Why? Because they have standards, expectations, rules, And if you don't follow them, the next best place is prison. So you're going to follow them. And there's a certain level of expectation for these men that gives them the boundaries and the framework that they need to start actually building a life. And the research, and I wish I had read it before my brother passed, but the research shows that women are addicted to opiates. Specifically, they don't just treat that, but that's one of the major problems in our country. You need 12 to 18 months of sobriety for your brain to heal. Tell me where somebody else can find 12 to 18 months of sobriety with structure, with a real job, building skills, that's not in jail. That's what these type of sober living environments create. I think every community needs to have rules and regulations to support great ones. And you guys have the opportunity here to write the rules for Madison County and set the expectations. And I think there's no better model out there than this group right here. So that's my two cents. All right. Thank you.

All right. Anyone else?

My name is Zachary. Twenty-five years ago, I was in a house just like that, and I went through some things, and I ended up in a sober living house. It changed my life. I found the Lord. I ended up joining the military, served honorably, got out. Now, I'm a father of three kids. I have a great, great career. I build houses. I've never looked back. Thankful. to have had an opportunity, you know, for something like that, to have a structure and a program that kind of guided me along the way. You know, it wasn't a free ride. You know, these guys, they have to work, and they have to provide, and, you know, they have structure, like Mrs. Purcell said, you know. And I go every Thursday. I'm a member of Southside Church as well, but every Thursday, myself and a couple of the other guys here, David Grinkle here being one, we rotate and go to the house and we talk with these guys and we share the word with them and we talk about things going on in their life and just seeing you know what the Lord is doing in their life every day I mean not only is it for my spirit but it's amazing you know and I can say that most of the guys I've been going and doing that with them for the last about four months now and it's kind of the same guys there and they're progressing through the program and it's just amazing You know, that's a blessing truly every day. I think that the world may look at these guys and label them as an addict, and that people would think that that defines them. But I think what defines them is, you know, most of them have given their life to the Lord, so they're a child of God. You know, and I think that is what really defines them these days. So, thank you. Thank you.

All right, we're going to roll for one more. Actually, Luke. We've got about six minutes left.

This will be quick. I'll be quick. I've been involved in this ministry since it started in May 1. And these guys, they're not only just in these houses hiding out. They're involved in these churches. I belong to Villa Black in Jefferson, Georgia. I live in Madison County. I live between the two homes. I probably go to each home more than anybody. I'm going into these houses probably twice a week, sometimes three times a week. Talk to these guys. They're polite. They've never been disrespectful to me or my wife. If we need them to do something at the church, they'll got that doing it. They come and free them when we first started. They come and give out food. They help give out food in our food ministry. Every month, like clockwork, they never miss and never complain. I used to put them in my truck with me. They would go to me to games with me. pick up bread and all. We'd get back 9 o'clock at night. They always was there, wanting to go, wanting to help. So these guys are being productive, too. I have one of the first guys that came into that home that married my oldest granddaughter. They've got a son now. They're doing great. Bought their own homes. Fantastic. Nick has turned out to be a fantastic guy. Are they all going to do that? Probably not. But you know, if we can save two or three of them, it's worth it, guys. And you know, you have that in your hands to help these guys. We really need the help. And like I say, I guarantee you could call Kagan tomorrow and say, hey, we need to do this. Every one of those guys would be like that to help. All right, thanks, sir.

Can I get your name, sir?

Randy Elrod.

Okay, thank you.

All right. Sir, I think we've got about three minutes. Anybody else?

My name is David Brinkle. I, too, have been with these guys since the beginning. I used to help minister to these two young men right here while they were in recovery themselves. And they came to me after some time and said God had laid it on their heart to start a ministry where they could continue like I have done to help those in need not just take it for themselves but to give it and pass it on to the new ones that are struggling and of course i stood right beside them then and i always will um in this ministry that they're doing that god's doing i've seen so many lives changed in it for the good i will say I didn't know how many people may have showed up outside and into this community, but these guys have helped so many families. We've had people call our church in need, and all we had to do was call Divine Healing, and the men would just show up. We built handicap decks for the women who couldn't get in them, feed people. many things that the ministry is doing in the community to serve so many needed families out there. There's stories after stories of them. And I wanted to at least let you all know that. They're a blessing. I've got 15 years sober. I've been on this journey. And they're a blessing to me every day because I'm very active with these guys. It's important to me. to be reminded of and watch them come from where they were at. That's where I used to be. And it's waiting on me to come back. I don't want to go back. When I spend time with these guys, they're helping our church in so many ways. They're helping other churches. I don't know where the other churches are at, but they're involved in three other churches. And I know I spoke to those churches, and they're making a huge impact in the church and in the community. So I just wanted to share that, that they are a blessing to so many people that not everybody could come. And I just wanted you all to know that. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir.

All right. Anyone here wants to speak in opposition to this reasonable request? Yes, sir. Please go forward.

My name is Greg Schillo, S-C-H-I-L-L-O. Our family residential property is the immediate western neighbor of the property owned by Mr. Payne that's the subject of this hearing. And I thank you for the opportunity to address you and offer my concerns and thoughts. I really appreciate that. The issue is a legal one concerning property usage by an owner according to the zoning ordinance. Madison County. The issue has nothing to do with the value of the organization to whom he rented the property in violation of those ordinances. The burden of responsibility for the erroneous rental does not lie with the neighbors of that property to prove that the current rental arrangement is undesirable for the health, safety, and general welfare of the inhabitants around the property zone for agricultural and residential use. The burden of responsibility lies with the owner of the property and Madison County to explain to those residents why Mr. Christopher Roach, the director of the building zoning and code enforcement department at the time in 2023, gave verbal not written permission without verification to be exempt from zoning regulations to the renter, not to the owner of the property. According to the analysis narrative, of Mr. Payne's request to change the zoning status. The burden of proof is even heavier on the county to explain to the property neighbors why there is even any ground for this meeting. Since Mr. Roach, according to a March 5, 2024 article in the Madison County Journal, was terminated from his position in 2024 by the Madison County Board of Commissioners after an executive session for violating county policy 5043 involving prohibitive conduct with one of the elements of that conduct being violation of county ordinances of which this discussion is a part. Mr. Roach professionally misrepresented the county in this instance. And even though he's gone, the neighbors should not bear the cost to their well-being of his error and incompetence as a representative of the county. The situation is a mess created by the owner of the property who should have learned the ordinances beforehand and made proper petition at the time instead of leaving it to the renter and by the county for having as its voice somewhat incompetent and misleading to speak for it. The burden is not on neighboring property owners to accept and accommodate the mistakes of the key players and a further erroneous fix that benefits the owner, the tenant, but not those other neighbors, some of whom were living on their properties long before the new folks entered the picture. The interest of health, safety, and general welfare of those neighbors should take priority. Now some specifics of that health, safety, and welfare relate to those neighbors and our family personally. We should not even have to be concerned with the possibility of trespassing. We hunt on our property. I do not want the remotest chance of accidentally shooting a trespassing person to even enter the picture as we hunt on the back of our property, and we do. We recently have had the brush cut back from the two-lane dirt road between the two properties, the one in question and ours. Now, I don't want to be concerned that a person from next door find that an easy entree to our land, for I have heard neighbors' stories of trespassing on theirs with belligerent behavior from those from the rental property who were asked to leave. I don't need to hear, don't want to hear any more stories from my neighbors of their family members, especially young females returning home from work at night only to be accosted by young males who are participants in the activities now on Mr. Payne's property. I do not want to hear more stories from neighbors who say their livelihood is being threatened by inhabitants of the rental property, enticing their work dogs away with food and then harassing the neighbors who correct them, leaving little kids in tears about their dogs being stolen. I do not want to hear more stories from neighbors about Airplane serving size liquor bottles found on Furnace Creek Road or on their property or near their property, nor ATV races late at night. So the further issue of proper property use is that the owner guarantee the responsible behavior of those on the property for the sake of the health, safety, and general welfare of present inhabitants, the neighbors around that property. based on what my neighbors tell me. We live on the other end of our acreage, so we don't bear the brunt of it. They do. That guarantee certainly is in question. Now, for any representative of the renting organization to say, well, we'll do better, may be an unsecurable promise, since the difficulties at least will reoccur every 12 months with a new group in the program. So I understand it's a 12-month program. So you go back and start over. However, such a promise is irrelevant since it assumes retaining renting rights to the property, which is out of balance with current and proper zoning. This is agricultural and residential, not group homes.

Now, Mr. Schiller, let me ask you a question. Are you speaking for your Bible?

I'm speaking for myself.

Please give time for someone else.

I will. Just give me a couple more. You know, this has been a mess for three years, Mr. Chairman. I hope that five minutes is not too long to speak. Well, we only have roots. Okay. So I do want to say this. I'll give it back my time. This is not a matter for me of hindering the intentions or efforts of the renter. Divine healing. I'm an ordained pastor. I'm an officer in one of the county ministerial organizations. I've been a disciple of Jesus Christ for well over five decades. If Mr. McDonald is still with the organization, I met him last year, and we spoke about his attending one of our ministerial meetings. So I'm not unsympathetic to the work and the motives of the organization. I'm in favor of them. I'm simply opposed to forcing the presence of the renter onto the neighboring community by saying that they already are there, they're a bunch of good people with godly intentions, certifications, and a heart for people. That's all wonderful. So, quick fix, let's change the zoning situation. That legally playing with people's free wills and emotions in the name of God or even religious liberty should absolutely be out of this question. The question is whether that work would even have had a chance to be there if the ordinances had been followed properly to give residents already there a chance to weigh in. I think not. If the surrounding community had been properly consulted before any rental transaction was initiated. So as it lies, and finally, the execution of the arrangement was illegal, ill-advised, ill-timed, and ill-placed. Put the work of the renter, the good work of the renter, into a zone that already accommodates business or healthcare. There's a business going on there. Mr. Payne is making some money off this. They're paying him whatever. And this is a healthcare issue. Should not be an agricultural residential zone. The cost for all the mistakes need to be borne by the owner, the county, and unfortunately, in this case, the renter. not the innocent surrounding neighbors. So I speak in opposition to the proposed zoning change. Thank you. Thank you. What time we got with this?

I got about seven minutes left.

Anyone else? Yes. Please come forward and state your name and what you want to say. I am W.J.

Smith. I can't say it any better than Michelle did. I don't doubt that these men do good work, but it's not about the good work that they do. It's about what was supposed to have been done. It was not done. And now we're in a situation where it's illegal. That's all there is to it. I had 27 years in the public safety business as a law enforcement officer. And I'll tell you what I have seen. I have seen when we had the ice fell back during the winter. He mentioned four wheeler races. There were folks running up and down the road on four wheelers. Several of these folks in the back lived in the neighborhood and they seen the same thing. Sliding up and down the road. Cars backing up and spinning off and just generally illegal activity. There's kids that live on this street. There's one at the top of the road. There's two on the aisle up with the back of their house there. There's two of my great grandkids. There's a pair of twins in the property there that they share on my place. And then there's houses or kids across the creek from us out there. Much too many kids for how folks run around like we've seen these people do. The details are in the problem is the county did something illegal. And we're asking, all of us here, there's a bunch of us from that area up there that's asking that you say no to what these folks are wanting. I'm so sorry. kids big trucks folks in and out of that place down there feed trucks several times a day pick up and drop off trailers there is within a mile of my house probably six million chickens and these truck of chickens get fed they get taken to market and there's folks up and down that road not good for kids but by the same token it's not got It's not good for folks with drinking problems, no matter how well they're doing in the program. It's not good for folks with drinking problems in and out of there with trucks coming up and down the road. Folks back in automobiles now. So what we're asking is y'all say no. It's not good work that's going on It's the work that was not done, and it's not done correctly. Thank you.

Thanks, sir. Anyone else? Thank you.

Thank you for having me. My name is Joe Cook. I live adjacent to the property. I have a lot of stuff that I was going to talk about with that gentleman, and I feel, of course, he really covered a lot of good ground. I'm just going to hit some highlights since we're running out of time. Mostly what I'd like to say to start with is this is not about religion. It's not about recovery. Awesome, awesome things. It's about use of property. We bought into our property 26 years ago. We love it there. We tend to move our children into different places of it. We subdivide and do future stuff there. It's land use. It's rural, agricultural, and it's also considered by the county as conservative. rural and agriculture. The vision, you all know the vision of what that's supposed to be in the 20 years since agricultural residential was proposed primarily of general farming areas where development of single family residences is occurring. Not this, so this is a business that's money being made. It breaks the, it's tendered the theme of what residential rural really is. And once we set the precedence for something like this, and not only that, this is a mess this thing is a mess it started off as a mess it's a mess right now there's nothing to set when i think about what could possibly happen here is okay we go yeah it's great it's wonderful i believe it recovered believe me i can tell you some stories about people it's a good thing it's just not there it's not a good place there we don't know what the ultimate result is going to be moving forward because it hasn't been explained as it deserves I look at all of the stuff. I spend a lot of time, I can have a lot of presentation here. Nobody's mentioning the creek. Furnace Creek is a named creek. 24,000, it is running all the time. And we're down streets that go straight from the property, runs right alongside of this property. The septic tanks have been approved for this property on both of those sides. One side I think was, I don't like the way that was done to begin with. A mother-in-law that never moved in. Those septic tanks were approved and put together for residential, commercial, not commercial, high density. We have creeks running down, no surveys, no, even at the property where they did the actual site survey for the septic tank for the new house that's there. They didn't even know there was a creek that's lined out. This has not been done right. The whole thing hasn't been done right to start with, and it's not being done right right now. And it's like talking about six months, they don't need certification, You talk about is it good for the county. It's not good for the county. It's not just doing anything for the county. It's bringing people out of Hall County, Waltham County, all around, and they're bringing prisoner transports down there directly out of jail and dropping them off. I love these people. I wish you the best. I really do. God on your side. But this is the wrong place for it. There's other places that would fit your needs better. There's no way to transition out of this environment. to go into work, there's no public transportation, there's jobs available in Danielsville and Island, there's no public transportation. We pulled a record, and I have it, a record from the 9-1-1, just in a short period of time on one of the properties, we got a half a page of all kinds of things that have happened down there, for warrants being served, and so on and so forth. It increases the uses of our public services. I recommend that we say no, I don't, and can't really run the whole presentation, We're designed to be a rural residential environment. We bought the property for it. It's quiet. I love my neighbors. Find their own business online. We help each other when we can. And thank God for you guys coming here today. But this is the wrong place for this. And we're wasting your time and money. We can find a better place for you. I recommend the board says no. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

My name is Joseph. All right, Mr. Wilbur, do you have anything to rebuttal? I do.

I'll try and be pretty focused here.

Drop everything. Actually, there may be a minute or two left, but they actually didn't reserve any time for rebuttal, so. I'll be very short. Okay.

I'll be very short. Under 7.3.1.11, religious institutions and their customary related facilities are already permitted under AR zoning. Arguably, AR already permits what we have here. And I'll just kind of generally say, Mr. Schiller said that he'd heard of stories. You weren't really presented with those stories necessarily. He's heard things from other people. I heard mention of feed trucks. That's not us. We don't have feed trucks. That doesn't serve us. You know, this is a need. This is an alternative to incarceration. We really appreciate your consideration, but there is an argument to be made that because one owner owns both of these properties, there's not a variance required. That would be an argument. Another argument is that this is already included under AR. So thank you so much. I know that it's tough sitting in your spot. We appreciate your time. All right. Thank you, sir.

We appreciate it. It's over, ma'am.

Both of us? Neither one of the women can talk?

Are you serious? The time has ended. It's coming back to 440.

Mr. Scott.

I'm very sorry, ma'am. We have to follow the rules.

Let me say the best of everybody who may be here two weeks from now. So there's 15 minutes to speak in favor of and 15 minutes to speak against. We cannot limit how long any one person speaks. The county encourages people to be courteous to others and go as fast as possible. The applicant may reserve up to five minutes. And so if you do that at the next one, then the other pro-speaking

Well, don't we have a chance to rebut what the attorney just said? No, ma'am. So he can start with... No, ma'am.

You will have your opportunity on August the 3rd, on August the 3rd, before the commissioners.

Yes, sir.

If you want 10 people to speak, then the first people that come forward have to limit the amount of time that they speak. If they take up the whole time, then that's all that's left. I'm very sorry.

Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, may I suggest to the chair that for those of us who are new to the process, that you state up front that there's a 15-minute time limit. What you said was ample time.

We will take your suggestion into consideration. Thank you very much for that. But tonight, we're going to move on. And I'm going to bring it back before the board for any discussion that you may have. Now, from the chair's perspective, I think what is being done is very much needed. It's very much needed in the community. The question is, is it in the right place? Is it in the right place? I don't think you'll get any argument out of anybody. Because what's being done is needed. But is it in the right place, is the question. Okay, anyone, any other board members?

All right, hearing none. Can I leave this with you all?

No, no, no sir.

Condition one.

Condition one.

If you want to point it out, you can. You go ahead. This application was submitted as an AR2R3 because the group home is considered multifamily and R3-FIT is multifamily. In our work session a couple weeks ago, we did discuss Ordinance 73111, which outlines or focuses in on religious institutions and their customary related facilities, and then goes on with some stipulations under that. And we had a discussion about the federal law that covers certain things with religious institutions, without me getting into it, I would like to, I guess ask for clarification from Mr. Pruitt so that everyone knows, does this particular ordinance having to deal with customary related facilities for religious institutions, does that fit that we need to consider this in this situation? If that makes sense.

Yes, sir. Let me get back to that section.

The 7.3.1.11, correct?

Yes, sir. So that says one of the permitted uses in AR is religious institutions and their customary related facilities. So that would be a matter of discretion for this commission and ultimately the Board of Commissioners as to whether this group home is a customary related facility that falls under that. The federal law you mentioned is the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which covers religious uses of property. And that law is somewhat complex, but at least according to a 2024 memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice, faith-based group homes like this are a

All right, any further comment or questions for the attorney?

We're going to look at the land use at the beginning of March. Yes, ma'am.

Any further comment? All right, at this point, we'll close the program here and close the discussion. And I will entertain a motion.

I'll jump in here. I'm opposed to R3. I don't feel like that's the place for R3 and have been from the very beginning. However, from what I'm hearing from our county attorney, this use that's been described here does fit under 731.11 and I would make a motion that we consider that as a permitted use

Yes sir, that's right.

Yes. For this and not R3.

That's a valid question.

But we would accept 731,000 for this use.

Okay, do you also want to add in that motion about the setback or the setback variance? The setback variance. Right. Since it's owned by the same property owner,

That does not apply. The common property line makes it where the variance is not applicable.

Okay. We'll restate that.

So the motion made by Mr. Mitchell is that the rezones, conditional use permits, and variance are not necessary because opinion of the Commission should you vote to approve his motion. This is a permitted use under 7.3.1.11 and setback variance is not needed because it's on an interior line which is not under the definition of common property line in the zoning ordinance.

So he does not have to rezone.

Okay. I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. I have a motion and a second. The motion being that the request to go through R3 does not apply because of already in our ordinance rule 7.3.1.11 will apply to this request and that these Setback, the variance does not apply because it's internal of the same popular. Okay? All right, I have a motion and a second. We will start with Cynthia.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. All right. We will recommend to the Board of Commissioners that they take Rule 7.3.1.11 and apply this to these rezone requests or the requests. Now, again, this is a recommending board only. We will recommend to the board of commissioners. They will have the final say. I would encourage all of you, the ones that are opposed, the ones that are fourth, to please show up on August the 3rd, 6 p.m. in this very room and express to the commissioners as you have done to us tonight. All right, moving on. Number nine.

The applicant for Old South Madison LLC is requested to re-own the 29.74 acre property.

Would you all please step outside if you're not going to remain for a minute. Yes, I know. I wasn't prepared.

All right. It makes me look like the guy.

Matt Thomas, applicant for Old South Madison LLC, is requesting to refund the 29.74 acre property from A1 to A2 to combine with his adjoining A2 1.475 acre tract

for a total of 31.24 acres to split into three tracts containing 10, 10.5, and 10.75 acres each. Property is located at 1319 Leon Ellis Road and Hall on map 16, parcel 101 in district one. Mr. Thomas?

Okay, I'm Christy Satt. I'm standing in for Mr. Thomas, who's out of state, and I have a speaker on this, if y'all have any questions.

All right, do you want to add anything to what Ms. Patrick has just stated?

No, sir.

Do we have any questions for the after?

I have a question for Tracy. Okay, whatever. I questioned in the business meeting private drive were you able to confirm the rule the rule is that a private drive is limited to 1500 feet unless approved by this board and the commissioners reason I bring it up and I think it is over to the farthest resident

need to not be on a tree survey or site plan. I really didn't have the ability to figure that out.

I don't have a problem approving it, I'm just...

There is a variance on that. It may be what he submits a survey or site plan. Maybe he should have been made to do that up front.

Any further questions?

Matt, that would be a question for you.

There's no current houses on the land at all, correct? Correct, yeah. And the private drive, I think,

Just shy of 1,500 feet. And we have removed, there were three dilapidated mobile homes that I've spent about $30,000 to demo and get out of there. So there are no structures, habitable or otherwise, on the property at all now.

Okay. Any further questions? That answers your question, Ken. No structure, no problem.

No structures on the property. There is a pole barn with no siding. It just holds a roof back in the very back of the property.

But there are three mobile homes were there when I purchased it. They've all been demolished and removed. There are no structures other than that pole barn on the property.

So what was the intent to build? Was the intent to build on these properties?

The intent will be for it to remain residential. Yes, ma'am. I don't have any intent to build speculatively on the properties.

I just would like the ability to eventually, if that's the five-acre parcel in the back will be built on, it was sold, and then I would like the ability to build on it, but don't want $30

full acres and envision this being smaller, less than a full 30, but I don't have any intentions of it being anything other than residential. There's a site plan in your packet on page 83 that shows three. It's a combination of two tracts with a plan of three resulting tracts, but of course that would be at the plant reporting stage.

All right, any further questions? Thank you, Matt. All right, we will close the public, we will open the public hearing. If anyone wants to speak in favor of this, read on request. Hearing none, if anyone wants to speak in opposition. Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing, bring it back before the board, and I'll end with a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. So a motion to approve. Second. I'm a second. Questions or comments? Ken? Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

All right. We will recommend to the Board of Commissioners on August the 3rd that this reasonable request be approved. All right. Number 10.

Casey Marvis, applicant for Field of Dreams Farm and Ranch LLC slash Adam Swan is requesting to refund the 22.03 acre property from A1 to R3 for a 14 lot subdivision. Property is located at 0 Willis Glen Road in Hull on Mount 30, parcel 53 in District 3. All right.

Mr. Marlowe?

Good evening. Good evening. Hope everybody's doing well. My name is Casey Marvith with Sandy Creek Landcraft, the land planner representing Mr. Adam Swann here on this project's request. I'll keep it short and sweet. Basically, we're asking for a rezone from A1 to R3 to allow for this 14-lot single-family subdivision. The property consists of just over 22 acres and is proposed to be served by county water with individual septic systems Subdivision includes 14 lots ranging from approximately 0.75 acres to 1.84 acres, and there's more than six acres of the site that remain as open space, including the stream corridor and the required environmental buffers, as well as the stormwater facilities. As we were looking at this, we evaluated the property and looked at the Madison County's comprehensive plan It's located within the South Madison County character area, which identifies this portion of the county as where residential growth is anticipated. The plan encourages development that is compatible with surrounding land uses, directs growth to areas with existing infrastructure, and supports the preservation of environmental resources, and emphasizes the appropriate transitions between land uses. We feel like this is a compatible land use under that top plan that's been approved, and we respectfully request that your I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions for Mr. Muller?

I just have one. I know that the water letter that is supposed to be submitted will come later in the process, but the fact that county water is not directly adjacent to this piece of property, So you're going to get county water. Are you planning to? The developer is. Yes, sir.

The developer is anticipating that short distance. And you've had talk with our water superintendent about that? Mr. Chawan has, yes. Okay.

And we have had several conversations with county commissioners as well as Mr. Higdon. They've got a few questions. We're working through some of those as we speak.

Does this fall under... We have one interior road and we have proposed an emergency access easement at the rear to allow for secondary access and emergencies.

Where would that be? It's hard to see.

This right here, there's an access easement between lot 10 and 11.

All right, any further questions? Yeah.

All right, thanks, sir. Thank you.

All right, we'll open the public hearing. Does anyone want to speak in favor of this? A rezone request. Hearing none, does anyone want to speak in opposition? Hearing none, we will close the public hearing and bring it back before the board. Now I'll entertain a motion.

I make a motion to approve.

A motion by Cynthia to approve. I'll second. Second. A second? Any questions or comments? All right, Lee? Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. All right, we will recommend to the Board of Commissioners that this be approved on August the 3rd, and we'll be prepared to present it to them. Member 11. Larry Dower.

Pastor and applicant for Galilee Holiness Church is requesting a variance to allow a 9,000 square foot fellowship hall to be erected on an existing concrete pad that doesn't meet the 50 foot setback requirement on both side property lines with deficit amounts of 14 feet, 14.2 feet, and 34.4 feet. The property is located at 0 Jollandown Road in Danielsville on Mount 10, parcel 61E in District 1.

Sir Dyer?

Yes, sir.

Good evening. Good evening. Some of you know, I know this lady knows, Some of you may not know, we had this building there and arsonists set fire to some chairs that were stacked up in pews that we had. It wasn't completely closed in at the time. We were using it to have some open air meetings in. It burned it so bad we had to take it down. It wasn't properly insured because the company we were with said that it wasn't covered until it was completely finished. So we didn't have the money for a long time to put it back. We finally had bought a building And it's laying there with grass growing up in it. I started in, I don't know, April, coming in to see about this permit. Finally, when the research was done, what they came up with was that we did have to have 15 feet when the building was first permitted and built. And now you require 50 feet. But the man that owns the property that's in question is Jeff Couch. And I've talked with him. He says he has no problem with the building being put right back where it was. I've got his phone number if you want to call him and talk with him. And we're planning to use it as a multipurpose thing. It'll be totally heat and air, 9,000 square feet. There will be a dining hall area in it. It'll be open for overflow services and then for activities with the children too, a place to play when it's really hot like it's been, when it's bad cold. rainy weather, just to give them a place to go with each other. So we're hoping that you will give us a variance and let us put it back, especially since it's fine with the property owner there. He bought the property and joined us to have a place to deer hunt, he said. I can't remember exactly where he lives, but he's a nice guy. Sounds really nice.

So what you were asking for is to put it back

the same foot scratch that was there prior to? Yes sir. I think the only reason the variance is needed is because it's been more than one year.

Yeah, I was surprised it wouldn't have fallen back to be honest with you. I thought it would have been.

I think it hurt in 2013.

I believe that's right, yeah.

Any further questions? No. All right, thanks, sir. Fairly easy to what you heard already, huh? All right, does anyone here want to speak in favor? Hearing none, does anyone here want to speak in opposition? Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing and I'll end our motion. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. We move and second that we approve Luberge's request. Any questions or comments? All right, Mr. Smith.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. All right. This board will recommend to the board of commissioners that this be approved. The next meeting will be August the 3rd, 6 p.m. right here. Please come and present your case. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Number 12.

Preston Strickland is requesting to rezone his 1.67 acres from business to R1 to market the property for residential use and to bring the non-conforming use into compliance with zoning regulations. The property is located at 1544 Highway 72 West in Comer on Map 84, Parcel 68 in District 5.

All right, Mr. Strickland.

I bought that property from a lady. Before she had it, a lady had a daycare in it. It's just a double line. And she'd run a daycare out of it. And then that lady bought it, and she started renting it. There was somebody living in it for probably 10 years renting it, like residential, while it was on commercial. Nobody ever said nothing. And then I ended up buying it from the property owner and the renters left and the house was in rough shape. I fixed it up and to make it back livable because it was in rough shape. But I'm pretty much just trying to get it back where it was at. I mean, it's nothing commercial about it. There's nothing but residential all around it. It's just a double line. I mean, with bedrooms, nothing different than any other double line. And I'm just trying to really put it back to where it belongs, really.

This is not in the city of Comer, though. It's outside of the city of Lexington.

Okay.

He wouldn't be here.

Well, I'm just making sure. It's just fairly close.

Yeah, like I said, it's just, I mean, it's really, it's just, I mean, there's nothing commercial around it. Really didn't even know it was commercial. You would never know it. It's pulled up there. There's houses everywhere. But I guess you ran that daycare out of it a long time ago. So they had it commercial. I'm just trying to get it back. I doubt anybody wants anything commercial out there because it's literally yard to yard with other people.

So this would have to be R3? R1? R1. All right, any questions for Mr. Strickland?

So you just want to sell it?

I picked it up. I'm going to sell it, yes, for somebody who lives in residential, yes.

Okay. How close is it to the property?

Who is it from the side it's supposed to be? I mean, I'm at least 30 feet off the right side. Oh, yes, way over that. Yes, definitely. As long as the, I mean, like, you know, I'm going off chain link fence because it's a fence then. But if the fence is the line, then I ain't close to it. Like on the line there, on the picture, it looks like a double-wide ride on the last one. Yeah, but in person, it's probably going through this road from the page and the chain link fence.

This is not in our plan. Because I know what's around there is mostly AR, isn't it?

Well, it is in the... It is inconsistent with a comp plan. It does fall in the rural conservation character area.

I didn't see any. I didn't know residential was even on it.

Okay, I may want to pull up the map 84 and put that up for them so you can see. Although it's AR, they're all about one and a half acre lots. It's all just, you know, lost on that one. Hit me like that. There's only one I asked when I was talking about it.

Oh, okay.

It's in the package.

Yeah, there you go. ARs and A1 and A2s are in it.

Well, as long now as business, is that inconsistent with the plan?

No. Well, Excuse me, yes it is, because it's in the rural conservation character area.

So it's already nonconforming. Right. So we'll just go from one nonconforming to the other nonconforming. Anchorage is not there.

Yeah, I know. That's what I know. Yeah, Anchorage is not. I know people that live around there, they don't have Anchorage either.

Yeah, I feel like, like I said, I mean, Everybody around it, I mean, I guess that one's blue. That one was just turned yellow, just like other ones that's all around it. Yeah.

Well, no. If it's R1, it might be younger. Oh.

Yeah.

So, I mean, where's R1?

Those are all in our community. Oh, they're in four acres. I got you now.

Mike, can I ask a question on this? I mean, obviously, this is something we've wrestled with, and we're going to continue to wrestle with. divided into R1 since once we pierce this veil and we allow a non-conforming R1 into a rural conservation, how do you as the lawyer, if it reaches that point, then say they shouldn't be given that same right?

Well, I think if it's that close to color like this is, then they probably do get that same one. I don't think it expands to the county. I mean, just to show it down, it doesn't make sense to me that you have these green areas butted up against your cities, which your comp plan also says is where you want your growth so that you can conserve the large tracts in the unincorporated county. I'm not sure how I'd explain your cut plan to a judge in the first place. Maybe that's my answer.

I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but just so you know, once we do something like this, then the surrounding property owners have that same opportunity to come before us and, hey, I mean, we're doing the best that we can with what we got, but somebody who wants to reach to a level and they say, hey, I want to take you to make that 100-acre tractor, I'll put a I understand that's an absurd example, but... Well, that's right.

So all of that is A1, is that right? Yes. So I don't know how to justify intensive poultry production on city limits of color, but that's what you have now.

Well, being familiar with that area, remember we had a person that came, he was going to cut up people's meat and stuff, he's got one of those off of that road. And then somebody built a big mansion right there in that area, too, where it has a lot of land. I don't know.

I just try to be mindful of the decisions that we make here who have ramifications, isn't it? or what it is that we have to work by, there are consequences for once we put a non, when we substitute a non-conforming for a non-conforming, this still has implications for the surrounding area.

It does. It's definitely a recognition that this area is not going to turn into intensive agriculture, no matter what the compliance is. We're going to become more intensively developed for this kind of use.

Thank you. Going by your example, if it remains in business, then what if somebody comes in and says, we want to put 20 businesses in there?

At this point, when the cop plan is looking forward, that's always been my contention when we have these non-conforming requests of an R1 into an area. I simply point out this is the only business that's non-conforming. The cop plan projects forward, and we say this area is not in a character area where we want to have more business So therefore, I feel like we have legal standing then to deny a business request in this area. I struggle personally just with the R1 because I know growth is going to come, especially this close to population centers.

Well, it's all ratings on the B, so if you left it, unless you result in something, it could be business as a matter of right.

Oh, he was referring to someone, an adjoining property owner who got to then... do this thing, do a similar scenario where they want to come in as a business, I would project for using the comp plan saying business is not recognized as an allowable or desired subdivide in this area.

You're right. Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry I missed that point. Yeah, you're right. I mean, so according to the comp plan, if you take it at face value, then you're expecting all of these smaller lots over time to go away and become chicken farms on city limits of color. That's where I take issue with your comp plan itself, and don't know how I explain that. Thank you.

And I apologize, sir, I don't mean that as not correct. It's an old thing that I'm still trying. The Rubik's Cube, I don't have everything lined up yet, which will you have to be able to.

Yeah, I always take this just like the rest of them, you know, because it's like somebody's lived there for 10 years, I'm trying to not really change anything. Somebody's still going to live there. Yeah. but in y'all's mind. You're a practical man.

Yeah.

Any further questions from Mr. Strickland? All right.

Thanks, sir. Thank you.

All right. Well, open public hearing. Does anyone want to speak in favor? Hearing no, does anyone want to speak in opposition? Hearing none, we'll bring it back before the board and we'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve this as presented.

Second.

We'll motion a second and we'll approve this reasonable request as presented. Any further comments or questions? No? No. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

All right, we will present to the Board of Commissioners that they approve this regional request. Thank you. And the next public hearing will be held on August the 3rd, 6 p.m. right here. I appreciate it, thank you all. Thank you, sir. All right, anything else that needs to come before this board tonight? My promotion's adjourned. The motion's adjourned? Second. All in favor? Aye. All right, we are adjourned.

Thank you.