PUBLIC HEARING

 

A public hearing was held by the Spalding County Board of Commissioners in their office in the Courthouse Annex, Thursday, January 27, 2000 beginning at 6:00 o’clock p.m. with Commissioners Michael Kendall , Martha McDaniel, Merrill Massengale, Johnie McDaniel and Earle Childres present.  Also present were County Manager Mike Ruffin, County Planner Nancy Moon, Zoning Attorney Newton Galloway and Executive Secretary Phyllis Doane.

 

A G E N D A

 

1.   Call to order – Chairman Kendall

 

2.      Special Exceptions and Rezoning Requests:

 

Application #99-34Z:  Flint River Baptist Association, Inc., Owner – for 12.529 acres on Baptist Camp Road, located in Land Lot 121 of the 3^rd Land District – requesting a rezoning from R-1, Single Family Residential Low Density, to AR-1, Agricultural and Residential.

There was no one signed up to speak for or against this Application.  Upon motion by Commissioner Martha McDaniel, seconded by Commissioner Childres Application #99-34Z for unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.  The Resolution will be incorporated into the minutes on second and final reading.

 

Application #99-44S:  Flint River Baptist Association, Inc., Owner – 12.529 acres on Baptist Camp Road, located in Land Lot 121 of the 3^rd Land District – requesting a Special Exception to allow a religious campground. 

There was no one signed up to speak for or against this Application.  Upon motion by Commissioner Childres, seconded by Commissioner Martha McDaniel Application #99-44S was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.  The Resolution will be incorporated into the minutes on second and final reading.

 

Application #99-37AZ:  Alan M. Reeves, Owner – Lisa R. Roberts, Agent – for .17 acre located in Land Lot 100 of the 3^rd Land District – requesting a rezoning from C-1, Highway Commercial, to C-1B, Heavy Commercial.

There was no one signed up to speak for or against this Application.  Upon motion by Commissioner Childres, seconded by Commissioner Martha McDaniel Application #99-37AZ was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0. The Resolution will be incorporated into the minutes on second and final reading.

 

Application #99-31Z:  James H. and Lynn A. Mock, Owners – Johnny B. Mostiler, Agent – 1651 Williamson Road – requesting a rezoning from C-2, Manufacturing, to C-1A, Neighborhood Commercial. 

There was no one signed up to speak for or against this Application.  Upon motion by Commissioner Martha McDaniel, seconded by Commissioner Childres Application #99-31Z was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0. The Resolution will be incorporated into the minutes on second and final reading.

 

Application #99-33Z:  Scott Sheffield, Owner – for 40 acres on New Salem Road, located in Land Lot 84 of the 4^th Land District – requesting a rezoning from AR-1, Agricultural and Residential, to R-4, Single Family Residential.  Mr. Scott Sheffield, applicant spoke on behalf of his Application.  He gave his address as 974 Terrence Avenue, Jonesboro, GA.  He said that he would have the required 125-foot road frontage to build four (4) houses.

 

Mr. Jerry O’Neal was signed up to speak against the Application.  He gave his address as 860 New Salem Road and stated that he was speaking for his father, Walter O’Neal.  He said that they agree with the four (4) houses on the property but no more than that.  Chairman Kendall stated that conditions had been placed on this application by Planning Commission, which were no more than four (4) houses, five-acre minimum and 1500 SF homes. 

 

Upon motion by Commissioner Kendall, seconded by Commissioner Martha McDaniel Application #99-33Z was unanimously approved with above-stated conditions recommended by the Planning Commission.

The Resolution will be incorporated into the minutes on second and final reading.

 

Application #99-36AZ:  John G. Pruitt, Owner – 3.469 acres on Barnesville Road, High Falls Road and Head Road, located in Land Lot 83 of the 3^rd Land District – requesting a rezoning from AR-1, Agricultural and Residential, to R-2, Single Family Residential.

Application #99-36BZ:  John G. Pruitt, Owner – 2.583 acres on Barnesville Road, High Falls Road and Head Road, located in Land Lot 83 of the 3^rd Land District – requesting a rezoning from AR-1, Agricultural and Residential, to R-2, Single Family Residential.

 

Chairman Kendall stated that these two (2) applications could be heard together but voted on with separate motions.

 

Mr. Gregg Pruitt, applicant, gave his address as 55 Partridge Path and spoke on behalf of these applications.  He said that he wanted to build six (6) houses with 1250 sq. ft. minimum as requested by the Board of Commissioners on this 6-acre tract.  He said that he had brought Wayne Moss and Eddie Wilson with him tonight to discuss any septic tank issues the Board might have.  He stated statistics to show that these homes would be compatible with what is in the surrounding area.

 

Chairman Kendall asked Mr. Pruitt to explain the septic tank issue again.  He said that he had done twice the soil work that he needed to do to find out what was there.  Mr. Moss recommended to him the best system would be two (2) on a separate system and four (4) on a central system; however, he said that he can put the houses on individual systems with obtaining easements, which would be shown on deed of record.   

 

Mr. Moss and Mr. Wilson were asked by the Board to speak at this time.  Mr. Moss gave his address as 2700 South Walkers Mill Road and Mr. Eddie Wilson gave his address as 105 Honeysuckle Lane, Milner, GA.  Commissioner Massengale asked the gentlemen to go over again what was approved.  Mr. Moss stated that a permit was issued in April 1999 for one (1) simple system to accommodate four (4) houses and two (2) individual permits issued for the individual houses.  He said the reason for the recommendation was so we could utilize conventional means of absorption and treatment of the sewerage. This was to locate on the best soils on the property. 

 

There was a discussion on how to regulate central systems when you have individual property owners.  Mr. Moss said that each individual would have legal ownership for the system.  The commissioners did not feel comfortable with this type of ownership and the problems that could occur when repair was needed for the central system.

 

Mr. Pruitt stated that he could do these three (3) different ways.  They are the central system, individual systems with easements or alternate systems such as the drip emitter.  He said that he did not want to use any alternates.  He said that he could do six (6) houses with six (6) individual pumps.  He said that the process is to first get the zoning and then work out the septic issues. 

 

Chairman Kendall stated that the reason he was asking about this is because once the Board makes their decision, he wants them to be completely out of this. He said that we do not have rules on the books to cover the legality of a central system.

 

Those signed up to speak against the application were as follows:

 

1.  Mr. Boyd Mitchell gave his address as 3914 High Falls Road and stated he was also representing Dr. William King and his family and others in his neighborhood.  He asked Mr. Moss what type system had he approved for Mr. Pruitt’s property.  He answered a central sewage system utilizing one pump with conventional means of drain field and two individual conventional gravity low systems per pump. This is the only plan that has been permitted by Environmental Health.  Mr. Mitchell stated that if the property is left AR-1 Mr. Pruitt could put up three (3) houses with no environmental problems.  He gave three (3) reasons for leaving the property AR-1.  They were (1) lower existing property values; (2) detrimental to environment; (3) opposition to number of houses on acreage.  He asked the Board to deny the request for rezoning and also who is going to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of this central sewage system.

 

2.       Mr. John Payne gave his address as 77 Bucksnort Road.  He said that he was representing some of the people in the community who had asked him to come and speak and they are against the number of houses Mr. Pruitt wanted to put on this tract of land, not the fact of building houses on this property.

3.  Ms. Bertie Goin gave her address as 376 Bucksnort Road.  She said she lived one-half mile away from this property and she too was against so many houses on this small area.  She said that property values would be lowered with so many houses in such a small area. She addressed her concerns about surrounding residents who have wells and the run-off of these many septic tanks on this piece of property.  Mr. Wayne Moss stated that the Spalding County Water Supply Regulations and Also State Regulations state that any septic tank drain field has to be at least 100 ft. away from any individual drinking water supply well whether it be bored or drilled and there are no wells within 100 ft. of this proposal. 

 

4.  Mrs. John Gaddy gave her address as 286 Bucksnort Road.  She said she too was against too many small houses in a small area.  She said that she was not against small houses but why put seven or eight on a small piece of property when you can divide them and they won’t look cheap. 

 

Mr. Pruitt asked if he could readdress the Commission.  He said that seventy per cent (70%) of Spalding County is AR-1 and when a developer buys a piece of this property, he knows that he can get some kind of rezoning from R-1 to R-6 and each one has specific specifications that have to be adhered to. He said that he felt like he was being singled out for septic tank system before getting his rezoning approved.  He said that he had agreed to come up to the 1250 ft. minimum from the requested 1100 ft., trying to do the right thing.  He said that he had asked Wayne Moss to be present to put people’s mind to rest about what he could or could not do.  He said that he has six (6) acres and he wants six (6) lots.  He said that he could get six (6) systems some kind of way.  He said that he had done everything he had been asked to do to get this rezoning.  He said he would consider it a violation of his rights if this rezoning did not happen.

 

County Manager Ruffin stated for the record that the Commissioners did not make Mr. Pruitt prove anything.  He was the one that brought up the septic tank issue and brought Mr. Moss with him tonight.  Mr. Pruitt said that he thought that it would have been brought up in the discussion tonight so he invited Mr. Moss to have an expert opinion. 

 

At this time Chairman Kendall asked for some kind of motion.  Motion made by Commissioner Johnie McDaniel to approve Application #99-36AZ with the condition of individual septic systems.  Commissioner Kendall seconded the motion and motion was denied by a vote of 2-3 with Commissioners Childres, Massengale and Martha McDaniel voting against the motion. The motion failed. 

 

Motion made by Commissioner Johnie McDaniel to approve Application #99-36BZ with the condition of individual septic systems.  Commissioner Kendall seconded the motion and motion was denied by a vote of 2-3 with Commissioners Childres, Massengale and Martha McDaniel voting against the motion. The motion failed.

 

3.       Adjournment.

 

Upon motion by Commissioner Childres, seconded by Commissioner Martha McDaniel the meeting was unanimously adjourned.

 

                                                                                                                                                                       

County Clerk/County Manager                                               Chairman

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