Planning and Zoning Commission

Planning and Zoning Commission 23 EAST MAIN STREET, FORSYTH, GA. 31029 478.994.7747 WWW.CITYOFFORSYTH.NET October 23, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes Voting Board Members Present: Steve Coleman, Kathy Rowland, James Freeman, Hal Clarke, and Michael Brewster. Voting Board Members Not Present: Keisha Rawls and Martin Presley Staff Present: Cody Ellis and City Attorney Bobby Melton. I. Call to Order: Steve Coleman called the meeting to order at 5:02p.m. II. Approval of Agenda: Hal Clarke made a motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Kathy Rowland; motion was approved unanimously. III. Approval of Minutes: Kathy Rowland made a motion to approve the minutes of the September meeting. The motion was seconded by James Freeman; motion to approve was unanimous. IV. Planning and Zoning: Cody Ellis presented a variance request for Jane Pennington concerning Parcel F19 091 located on Freeman Avenue. The request was to reduce the front setback requirement from 30ft to 20ft to allow for the construction of a duplex. He stated that Mrs. Pennington had come a couple of years prior to receive a rezoning for this parcel and the adjacent one to Residential Multi-Family for the purposes of construction a quadplex and a duplex. Mrs. Pennington stated that the quadplex had already been constructed, but in order to be able to construct the duplex, they would need the variance in order to meet the setback requirements. Steve Coleman stated that he remembered her coming before, but thought that this was taken care of at that time; however, Cody Ellis stated that, after reviewing the minutes from that meeting, it was mentioned that a variance would be needed for this very reason, but one was not obtained at that time; only the rezoning of the parcels. Michael Brewster made a motion to approve the request as presented, seconded by James Freeman; motion was approved unanimously. Cody Ellis introduced the next item of a rezoning request for Old Mill Market, Parcel F35 027A. He stated that they were looking to rezoning from Manufacturing- 1  Industrial to Central Business District to match the surrounding areas/uses as well as to split the parcel up to sell. Kathy Rowland stated that they were wanting to parcel out the warehouses behind Old Mill Market in order to sell them, but they wouldn’t be able to under the current zoning due to the dimensional requirements for Manufacturing-Industrial. She stated that she’d already confirmed with Cody Ellis that they would meet the dimensional requirements for Central Business District. Kathy Rowland also stated that she would be abstaining from the vote since she had a financial interest in the item at hand. Hal Clarke made a motion to approve the request as presented, seconded by James Freeman; motion was approved unanimously (4-0; 1 abstention). V. Design and Review: Jennie Caldwell was present to represent Storage Master for their Design Review approval. Cody Ellis stated that they had come a year ago to receive a conditional use approval to put a storage facility over by Volume Chevrolet. He added that this Design Review was only for this use, which would be going on Tract #4 of the site plan that was provided; he added that the other uses would come back at later times for their individual Design Reviews. Jennie Caldwell reiterated that the storage facility would be on the back portion of the property, backing up to Railroad Avenue. It would consist of one larger climate-controlled facility and separate smaller buildings with individual storage units in them. Hal Clarke expressed concerns with the light pollution that may affect the homes behind this facility, along with those homes having to look at this from their property. Jennie Caldwell stated that there would be a buffer in accordance with the zoning requirements for the property. Cody Ellis confirmed that they would be required to have a landscape/natural buffer to act as a shield between their business and those residents. Hal Clarke also noted that the lights should be installed in a way so as not to disturb those residents as well in case the buffer was not enough. James Freeman made a motion to approve as presented, it was seconded by Hal Clarke; however, he wanted to have the motion amended to include address the two concerns that were mentioned. Hal Clarke made a motion to approve with the amendments that the lights on the property be faced downward and away from the tracks so as not to disturb the residents and that a natural buffer relative to the elevation be put in place to screen the houses behind the property. The amended motion was seconded by James Freeman; motion was approved unanimously. VI. Additional Business: VII. Adjournment: Steve Coleman adjourned the meeting at 5:27p.m. 2