Several requests for zoning changes have been making their way through Franklin County Commission meetings.
On Thursday, Trenton Farr was the only person to speak in a public hearing about 4.94 acres he is asking the county to rezone, which are located a third of a mile east of the intersection of Highways O and N, near Catawissa.
Farr’s request would change the zoning of the property at 6719 Highway O to W from the O zoning district.
The property is “isolated on an island,” with creeks the main thing nearby, Farr said.
The W zoning district allows for agricultural and small-scale commercial uses, which mix with low-density residential uses, county Planning Director Scottie Eagen said. Farr’s request previously was recommended by the county Planning and Zoning Commission by an 8-1 vote. Commissioners will make a final decision at a future meeting.
Farr told commissioners he would like to build a metal building on the property, which currently has no buildings. It is located about a quarter mile from his home.
“I would still run a fireworks stand, but get rid of the tent aspect of it,” he said.
Farr is working to clean up the property, he said. “It was a dumping site before by the previous owner,” he said.
Storage facility
Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission, a conditional use permit for an outdoor commercial storage facility was recommended. The request is being made by St. Clair Storage LLC and Wunderlich Surveying for property St. Clair Storage owns north of the intersection of Highway 47 with Interstate 44 in St. Clair.
The applicants will be required to build a nine-foot-high concrete wall, which was on their site plan, county Planner Curtis Ellison said Thursday. The owners must keep all the storage facilities behind the wall.
“This is temporary storage, so everything had to be in and out within 90 days,” he said. The wall will be built out of “concrete Lego blocks.”
“When they tow a junk car, they stow it there until it’s repaired or salvaged,” he said.
The business also will stow PODS moving containers, Ellison said.
Subdivision plat
Also recommended by the planning commission was a preliminary plat for the Oak Hollow subdivision, which will include 20 lots on 27.7 acres near Villa Ridge. Ellison said developer JMTB Development Inc. initially got approval for the site, located a quarter mile north of the intersection of St. Louis Rock Road and Gildehaus Road, in 2002, but it expired after the first phase was built.
“They had to, basically, reapply,” he said.
The project will still need additional approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, Ellison said.
