Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good evening and welcome to the January 2026 Town of Smyrna Board of Zoning Appeals. Like to go ahead and call this meeting to order. We will start with the prayer and the pledge. I miss something.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we gather before you today seeking your wisdom and guidance as we discuss matters of importance to our city. We ask that this room be filled with your spirit and that you bless those that are in attendance today. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thanks, Mike. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Scott. Next on the agenda, we have citizen comments. The the town's public comment period shall be reserved for those citizens that have signed up to address the board or committee at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting pursuant to the town's public comment policy. Speakers are limited to three minutes. Additional comments may be submitted in writing. Mitch, do we have any citizen comments? Not. Awesome. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the November board zoning appeals meeting. I assume everyone who's read and reviewed those minutes. Do I have a motion for approval? I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a motion for approval? Do I have a second? I'll second. All in favor say I.

I. Any opposed?

Meeting minutes are approved. Next on the agenda is new business. Special exception for Michael Woods of lots of addresses on Courier Place. Yeah, this is a special exception request to allow a variety of uses including contract construction services, consumer repair services, general business service, and general retail trade within a property zone I1 at the addresses of 1068 through 1070, 1072 through 1084, and 1088 Career Place. Property is zoned I1 and currently has a variety of tenants ranging from contractors, food market, suppliers, warehouse and shipping. Security system sales and install and staffing agencies among others. A majority of the tenants on site have low if any customer visits rather primarily used as office spaces for the employees with business related product storage on site. This request is to formalize compliance for those tenants who operate on-site and future tenants whose business operations necessitate a special exception as per the zoning ordinance. Previous BZA requests have been presented in 2005 for a bar restaurant and this was denied and also in 2023 for the existing food market and a staffing agency. The request in 2005 was denied due to inadequate parking concerns and the request from 2023 was approved. The a little bit of backtory on this. The reason this is coming up is we had a one of the tenants on site apply for a business license. Um he's a contractor and upon reviewing the previous BZA request as well as the special exception list and allowed uses in the I1 district his use would not be allowed by right. Hence we are coming here tonight. And previously in 2023, we had the similar situation. A person applied for business license wasn't allowed use only by some special exception. So they received that at that time. So really at this time, we

have several other businesses that would fall in that same category. So we're trying to get a lot of those cleaned up here with one swoop of a bunch of different businesses uses being allowed for special exceptions. So a little bit of backstory on that. The section 7.060b 060 B of the zoning ordinance detail requirements for authorizing special exceptions and they are detailed below. Section 7.06 of the municipal zoning ordinance lists general requirements for a zoning variance request. Those requirements and staff findings are as follows. General requirements a condition use permit special exception shall be provided. The board finds that it is a so designed located and proposed to be operated so the public health safety and welfare will be protected. Staff finds that the requested uses should not negatively affect the health, safety, and welfare of the public as the uses presented as part of this request are present on site today will not adversely affect other property in the area in which it is located. Staff finds that the proposed use should not adversely affect other properties in the surrounding area as surrounding properties have a variety of commercial and industrial uses is within provisions of special exceptions as set forth in this ordinance. Section 5.053.1C 53.1C lists contract construction services, consumer repair services, general business service, and general retail trade as a special exception within the I1 district. Conforms to all applicable provisions of this ordinance for the district in which it is necessary to be located as well as provisions cited in section 7.06 and 7.061 and is necessary for public convenience and location plan. Staff finds at the site may be able to conform to all provisions of the ordinance as listed in criteria review section 7.060c. Criteria for review. In ingress ngress to the property access to the site would continue to utilize the existing driveways off of courier place as the site is currently existing today. Off- street parking requirements. Staff finds that the lot could provide

sufficient off space for off- streetet parking as there are approximately 112 total striped parking spaces on this parcel to support all the tenants. Due to the nature of the businesses, staff does not foresee high traffic volumes to impact this property. Refuse and service areas. Refuse collection will proceed in the same manner as currently exists today. Utilities. This location does have access to all necessary utilities including water and sewer. Screening is not applicable in this case. Signs, if any, proposed exterior lighting with reference to glare, traffic safety, economic effect, compatibility, and harmony with properties in the district. Staff finds that the proposed business could meet the signage and lighting requirements stated above. Required yard and other open space. Staff finds that this yard has the necessary yard and open space to meet setback requirements as the structures to be used for the operations currently exist on site. General compatibility with adjacent properties and other property in the district. Staff finds that the use may be compatible with other properties in the vicinity and other properties in the district. Properties in the area contain a variety of uses that are both commercial and industrial nature. Number nine is not applicable in this case as well. In conclusion, staff finds that the slot provides sufficient space to allow for the use of contract construction services, consumer repair services, general business service, and general retail trade in addition to the uses as allowed by right within the I1 zoning district. Other properties in the area are zoned a mixture of commercial and industrial with a variety of uses present. This is picture from the site taken from the front entrance off of Courier Place looking at the first building on property. This is the back of that same building looking back. So, a lot of it is storage for the back for whatever tenants are on site and then the front is more so the primary entrance point. This is your overhead image. So, just recap that first picture was taken from

up here off Courier Place. Second picture back here looking back towards on the site. So you do have one building, two building, three building and four buildings total on site all with their own parking situated nearby the buildings and uh parking you see in this picture is pretty average for in addition to what I saw out there today while I was on site taking these pictures as well. So um once again these tenants are on site already today. It's to clean up those existing tenants around property as well as any future business license that may come in for this property to uh make them compliant at that time. So that's all I got. Awesome. Thank you, Mitch. Anyone have any questions for staff?

U just comment Mitch. I think he also owns the properties to the east of uh this correct this location as well. Correct. I believe those are uh the one the storage facility. This Yeah, this one up here I believe I don't know if he owns this one or not, but that is a he owns that. That's a single tenant. So, they're all good on that and those are all the warehouses, right? So, Mitch, essentially, my understanding that all of the existing tenants either meet current general requirements or the special exceptions.

That is correct. Yeah. So had the applicant original request came through for requesting a approval of every special exception use be allowed per this request but had him tone it down more so for only the uses that are present on sites. We're not getting carried away with uses that we may not see fit on here. So he was able to supply me with a list of the users that are on site. From that list was able to narrow down to these four uses where they all fall into. So we're only reviewing what's actually on site.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for staff or any discussion? Okay, at this time I will close the board of zoning appeals and open up a public hearing for anyone who would like to speak for or against this request. If you would like to please step to the podium, state your name and address and yeah um just comment I think um Baylor here is representing the owner if we have any questions of him. If not, then I will close the public hearing and reopen the board of zoning appeals meeting for any more discussion or a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. I have a motion to approve. Do I have a second?

I'll second. We have a second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion is approved. Request is approved. Next on the agenda is staff comments or other business. I do not have anything else at this time. I have one thing to add. Um, welcome Tyler Short to the Board of Zoning Appeals um board. Um, we lost Vanessa Haley to another position in the something another boarding commission. Planning Commission. Yeah. So, the your first meeting you had to sing the national. Oh, yeah. We're not doing that anymore. Scott did it for me. Yeah. We We'll save that for I don't want to take that away from her job.

Normally, we normally have a Q&A. Tyler and Catherine, y'all, it's like a 10 question back and forth. No. Oh, okay. Passing on that. That's about as much as she says. Okay, that is it. Awesome. Next one is a German. Thank you everybody. Thank you. [Music] [Music]