Gift shop request approved by BZA (02/21/07)

Uncertainty about a decision made in the past briefly stumped members of a local board.

A request for a special exception in an area zoned neighborhood business raised questions Tuesday about whether or not this is actually how the area is zoned. After discussing the matter and not finding a clear answer, board members voted to grant the request.

Roger Locker, owner of Locker's Touch of Country, 204 W. Votaw St., Portland, asked for the special exception for property he owns just north of his business. Locker said he uses a barn on the property located at 203 W. McNeal St. for storage and wants to use a house on the lot for a gift shop.

Before three of the four members of the Portland Board of Zoning Appeals who were present voted on the request, they heard a comment from an audience member which made them question zoning for the lot.

Portland City Council member Glen Bryant, who is also a member of the Portland Planning Commission, said he believed the commission voted several years ago to rezone the land to neighborhood business from residential. He said the zoning change was supposed to expire when the owner of the property, Tom Shultz, passed away, which he has.

BZA member Vicki Tague asked Bill Milligan, Jay/Portland Building and Planning administrator, if he was able to find anything regarding action on the property in minutes of past meetings.

Milligan said he only had minutes from the time he started his job in 1999 until the present. He was unable to get the minutes from meetings held before 1999. Milligan said he found minutes from a city council meeting that said the zoning change was approved on Dec. 15, 1997.

City attorney Bill Hinkle said the board could either approve the zoning change or send the request to the planning commission so its members can determine how the lot is zoned.

Board member Larry Petro made a motion to send the request to the commission. The motion died due to a lack of a second.

Before the board voted, an audience member and neighboring property owner spoke against the request.

Bill Gibson, 216 W. McNeal St., said he was concerned that if Locker moves some of his business there would be too much traffic on the street. "I just don't feel like we need that much more," he said.

Board member Susan Schutz then made a motion to approve the request. Schutz, along with Tague and board president Ken Walters, voted in favor of the motion. Petro cast the lone dissenting vote. Board member Ron May was not present.

Petro said after the meeting, "I thought it should have gone back to the original body to make the clarification."

Also Tuesday, the four board members voted in favor of a request for a variance in height restriction of 35 feet in the city's zoning ordinance.

Scott Daniels, who plans to develop a Holiday Inn Express west of the city, asked for the variance so he could build a three-story hotel. He did not attend the meeting.

Milligan spoke on Daniels' behalf and said the building would be about 50 feet tall, which is 15 feet taller than what is allowed in the zoning ordinance. Milligan said he has not received any written or verbal opposition to the request.

Tague asked if the building's height would pose any problems for airplanes.

Milligan said it would not.[[In-content Ad]]