City land, county zoning

By Doug Page | Monday, April 2, 2007, 04:57 PM

Over the past six years, the city has grown as neighbors requested annexation, mostly to get city water and sewer.

The annexations, however, have created a bit of headache for the city’s planning and zoning department. The annexed land keeps its county zoning until such time as the City Council changes it.

The council appears in no hurry to do so. Currently, 865 acres of city land is under county zoning, administered by the city.

“It’s confusing,” said Mark Cundiff, the city’s planning and zoning director. He and his staff have to enforce two different zoning codes.

Some of the annexed land is still zoned county agricultural. That means the landowner is entitled to raise livestock on the property. And there is little the city could do.

“I suppose someone might object under the city’s noxious odors ordinance. But that’s pretty subjective and hard to prove,” Cundiff said.

Most cities begin a zoning process either at the same time as annexation or shortly after annexation.

“Why we don’t do that, I can’t tell you why,” Cundiff said.

In order to clean up the zoning along the city’s boundaries after a flurry of annexations, the city Planning Commission held public hearings in May 2005 to zone the five properties — more than 520 acres — in accordance with the wishes of the owners.

Following the public hearings, the commission voted unanimously to recommend the rezonings to council. Those properties included WACO Field, Goodrich, the Troy Country Club, 93 acres of farmland and several residential lots. All of the rezonings were in line with the properties’ current uses.

The recommendation never made it to council.

Why is unclear.

“I’ve got to say I’m a bit shocked,” Tony Char, former city planning director and Planning Commission member, said by telephone from Florida.

Sue Knight, Planning Commission secretary as well as clerk of council and the administrative assistant to the director public service and safety, said it must have fallen through the cracks. “The staff is trying to organize those with recent annexations,” she said.

“I was unaware the recommendation had not been forwarded to council,” said Jack Waters, Planning Commission chairman.

“I was fine with the annexation, as long as it stayed agricultural,” said Evelyn Sheafer, whose 93 acres on Washington Road remains zoned county agricultural. The Planning Commission had recommended it be rezoned city agricultural.

“I didn’t hear anymore after that,” she said.

Cundiff said his staff is assembling the background information on the 2005 recommendations to be forwarded to council.

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