Planning Commission

Rome-Floyd Planning Commission MINUTES Location: City Hall Sam King Room and Zoom Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023 Time: 2:30 PM CALL TO ORDER Time convened: 2:30 p.m. by Vice Chair Love. Determination of Quorum (6 of 10 needed) P– MEMBER Notes STAFF Present A– Absent Z – Zoom P Tom Bennett P Frank Beacham /John Hawkins - City Atty P Frank Brown Z Brittany Griffin – HP Senior Planner P Leanne Cook – arrived P Bruce Ivey – Spec. Projects Manager at 2:34 pm P Vic Hixon P Chris Jackson – County Attorney A Anthony McClain Chair A James Martin – Chief Building Official P Charles Love Vice Chair P Wright Bagby – County Ex-Officio P Ivy Lowrey P Art Newell – Dir Planning Dept P Brandie Townsend P Randy Quick – City Ex-Officio P Meredith Ulmer – Assistant City Manager P Brice Wood – Asst Dir – Planning Dept P Michelle Kite – Planning & Zoning Coordinator Public present: Elaine Keasler, Wayne Keasler, Lucy Geraldson, Stanley Geraldson, Adam Kijowski, Paul & Julia Kijowski, Wright Bagby, Danny Price, Terra Ferguson Welcome and Introduction of Visitors Vice Chair Love welcomed the public to the meeting and requested that all visitors sign in. Determination of Quorum Planning & Zoning Coordinator Kite called the roll and determined that a quorum was present. Approval of Minutes from January 2023 Meeting Townsend made a motion to approve the January 2023 minutes with the correction of changing where Vice Chair was noted as Lowrey instead of Love, which was seconded by Brown. The minutes were approved by common consent. 1 Approval/Modification of the Agenda There was a request to modify the agenda to postpone SUP23-03-02 until the April Meeting. Lowrey made a motion to modify/approve the agenda, which was seconded by Townsend. The motion passed by common consent. CITY OF ROME REZONING & SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATIONS: A23-03-01 for the property at 210 Harrison Rd NW, Rome, GA 30165, Floyd County Tax Parcel H12Z413, requests annexation with no change in use or zoning, current zoning being Suburban Residential (S-R). Assistant Director Wood presented the application, staff report, and staff recommendation of approval. Vice Chair Love opened the public hearing. No one was present to speak in favor or in opposition of the application. Vice Chair Love closed the public hearing and opened discussion among members. Brown made a motion to approve, which was seconded by Hixon. The motion passed by a vote of 7-0. MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER M – Motion S – Second AB – Abstained Y Tom Bennett S Vic Hixon M Frank Brown Y Charles Love Y Leanne Cook Y Ivy Lowrey Y Brandie Townsend Anthony McClain Z/SUP23-03-01 for the property at 936 N. 2nd Ave., Rome, GA 30165, Floyd County Tax Parcels I13Z202 requests rezoning from Community Commercial to High Density Traditional Residential with a special use permit for a duplex. Assistant Director Wood presented the application, staff report, and staff recommendation of approval. Vice Chair Love opened the public hearing. No one was present to speak in favor or in opposition of the application. Vice Chair Love closed the public hearing and opened discussion among members. Bennett made a motion to approve, which was seconded by Cook. The motion passed by a vote of 7-0. MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER M – Motion S – Second AB – Abstained M Tom Bennett Y Vic Hixon Y Frank Brown Y Charles Love S Leanne Cook Y Ivy Lowrey Y Brandie Townsend Anthony McClain Z23-01-04 for the property at 0 Technology Pkwy NW, Rome, GA 30165, Floyd County Tax Parcel H12W016F and H12Z006A, requests rezoning from Light Industrial to Heavy Industrial. Assistant Director Wood presented the application, staff report, and staff recommendation of denial. Lee Bagley was present to speak in favor of the application. This will be a wood transfer station. They have another location on John Davenport. Danny Price was present to speak in opposition. He noted that Parcel H12W016F is within the Berry/Technology Pkwy covenants and this use would not be allowed per the covenants. He was speaking on behalf of the covenants not the ULDC. He asked if a special use permit would not be a better solution. Lee Bagley replied that he needs it to be rezoned due to what they are trying to do on this property. The current zoning 2 would not allow for the use. Bagley noted that it must be clean logs and trunks only. There is zero dust, and they grind small debris. Cook asked why staff recommended denial. Assistant Director Wood clarified that the property had greater development potential zoned as L-I and the requirements of minimum acreage needed. Bagley clarified that the parcels will be combined. Townsend noted that air curtains are a better option than open burning; no smoke or smell. It is meant to be used for wood cleanup in dense areas. It is not as invasive as it appears. Bagley followed up that it is a cleaner process. Brown asked for clarification on what feedback was provided to staff from Brian Roberts and Assistant Director Wood provided the information that was given on the staff report. Bennett expressed concern about appearance of it and not being the intent of Technology Pkwy. Lee provided insight that they will be burning 5 days a week so it will not be piling up. They are working on a process to be able to use to spread on fields and pastures in the future. Vice Chair Love closed the public hearing and opened the floor for discussion amongst the voting members. Lowrey made a motion to approve the request on the condition that the proposed use as a wood transfer station should include the operation of an air curtain, that the rezoning is conditioned on the requirement that the unit is operated in strict compliance with EPD air quality permitting and the development of an air quality monitoring plan. A copy of the permit, monitoring data, and operation plan should also be required to be maintained on-site , which was seconded by Hixon. The motion passed by a vote of 7-0. MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER M – Motion S – Second AB – Abstained Y Tom Bennett S Vic Hixon Y Frank Brown Y Charles Love Y Leanne Cook M Ivy Lowrey Y Brandie Townsend Anthony McClain Z23-03-02 for the property at 1008 Calhoun Ave., Rome, GA 30161, Floyd County Tax Parcel K13Y302, requests rezoning from Community Commercial to High Density Traditional Residential. Assistant Director Wood presented the application, staff report, and staff recommendation of approval. Vice Chair Love opened the public hearing. No one was present to speak in favor or in opposition of the application. Vice Chair Love closed the public hearing and opened discussion among members. Lowrey made a motion to approve, which was seconded by Townsend. The motion passed by a vote of 7-0. MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER M – Motion S – Second AB – Abstained Y Tom Bennett Y Vic Hixon Y Frank Brown Y Charles Love Y Leanne Cook M Ivy Lowrey S Brandie Townsend Anthony McClain 3 FLOYD COUNTY REZONING & SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATIONS: Z23-01-06 For the property at 68 Burton Rd., Rome, GA 30161, Floyd County Tax Parcel K13W091, requests rezoning from Suburban Residential to Heavy Commercial. Assistant Director Wood presented the application, staff report, and staff recommendation of denial. Vice Chair Love opened the public hearing. No one was present to speak in favor of the application. Adam Kijowski spoke in opposition of the application, stating he has lived there for years and it is loud and has lawn mower debris strewn all over. Kijowski continued that this has become more of an issue lately. Kijowski continued that he doesn’t feel that it is good with the childcare facility, traffic, and sight line issues (due to lawn debris). Kijowski continued about how traffic has gotten bad along the road with back up of traffic trying to get in and out. Elaine Keasler also spoke in opposition, noting that the only entrance and exit to the daycare is directly across the road from the applicant parcel and causes traffic issues. Keasler expressed concern that that noise from Heavy Commercial could cause a lot of problems as the children will need to nap during the day. She asked to submit photos for review of the location. Brown motioned to allow the photos and this was seconded by Lowrey and approved by common consent. Vice Chair Love closed the public hearing and opened discussion among members. Brown made a motion to deny the request, which was seconded by Townsend. The motion passed by a vote of 7-0. MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER M – Motion S – Second AB – Abstained Y Tom Bennett Y Vic Hixon M Frank Brown Y Charles Love Y Leanne Cook Y Ivy Lowrey S Brandie Townsend Anthony McClain STAFF REPORT (JANUARY CASES AND UPDATES): Director Newell gave updates on January cases. ADJOURNMENT: The next meeting is a scheduled meeting which will be April 6, 2023, at 2:30 PM, in Sam King Room. Vice Chair Love adjourned the meeting at 3:44 p.m. STAFF REPORTS: https://www.romega.us/DocumentCenter/View/2484/A23-03-01 https://www.romega.us/DocumentCenter/View/2485/ZSUP23-03-01 https://www.romega.us/DocumentCenter/View/2486/Z23-01-04 https://www.romega.us/DocumentCenter/View/2487/Z23-03-02 https://www.romega.us/DocumentCenter/View/2488/Z23-01-06 4