May 15, 201
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votes: 46
Williams opens fire
on a fleei car inan
unsuccessful a mpt to
deflate its tire? Is that
really the escalation of
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcr.net
Monroe County Commis-
sioners rejected developer
Otis Ingram's request to
re-zone a 4.63-acre tract on
Estes Road to make way for
a service sector business.
Ingram asked commis-
sioners to re-zone the prop-
erty just west of 1-475 from
residential to commercial so
he can sell the property for
commercial use.
Ingram said although his
tract is still zoned residential,
he used the site as additional
office and storage space for
his business for a decade
from 2006-16. He said the
site, which includes a metal
office building and a storage
building with four 25-foot
roll-up doors, is hardly vis-
porter
tract. Ward said Ingram's
request was the very defini-
tion of spot zoning, and he
worried that its approval
would bring more commer-
cial businesses to the area.
Whittle Road resident
Miller Edwards said Ingram
might already have been
in violation of the county
ordinance by operating his
business on a residentially-
zoned tract. Edwards said
he's concerned about what
else might occur on the tract
should it be re-zoned.
Lentz Road resident
Robert Garza said he's
concerned about safety on
Estes Road should more big
trucks traverse the curvy;
narrow road.
Estes Road resident Chris
Spence said the nearby
landscaping business has
ible from the road. been able to operate on a
vc esi 36 Ingram also noted that a residential tract because
: former county zoning of-
Weather is HOT. landscape business, Ever-
green Landscaping, has been ricer John Kutscher told him
world great t0 eat !!! operating for years across that a building being erected
the street from his tract even by the previous owner was
Ummmi Will owr though that property is also just a barn. Spence said by
zoned residential. While the time the current owner,
Evergreen, bought the site, it
was akeady being used com-
merciaUy.
Klopfer Road resident
Stacey Nestor urged com-
missioners to reject Ingram's
request because an office
building wouldn't bring in
additional tax revenue.
Estes Road resident Chuck
Thompson said neighbors
moved to the area to "escape
commercialization" Thomp-
son said area residents are in
solidarity opposing Ingram's
request and said they would
be willing to mobilize and
take further action should
commissioners approve it.
Whittle Road resident
Vaughan Smith agreed with
Garza that Estes Road is too
dangerous for commercial
trucks while Estes Road resi-
Ingram maintained that a re-
zoning to commercial would
not hurt neighbors' property
values, he said he would be
willing to keep the property
residential ffhe could get
Ty didn't do the dogs a variance for the buyer to
right. He let his pride operate the site asabusiness.
get in the way. votes: 10 However, county attorney
Ben Vaughn said there's,
BREAKING NEWS: Doe- no option in the countys
furs have found a cure residential zoning ordinance
for Trump Derangement for commercial use.
Syndrome - leave the Eight neighbors spoke out
country, votes: 9 in opposition to Ingrams
request. Estes Road resident
Stacey Abrams als Clint Ward said there are
K~tuc~'Derby until 28 homes as well as a 30-
Republicans ch~
the results, votes: 8
I wish Iwas the biggest
a
BEING A BILLIONAIRE!I!
votes: 6
home subdivision between
Ingr 's property and the
Bolingbroke commercial
district and 136 homes and
eight more subdivisions on
the west side of Ingram's
dent Ian Payne said it's not
dear what size trucks would
be using the road.
When given a chance
to respond, Ingram said
large hay trucks pulling
trailers with horses already
frequently drive on Estes
Road. Ingram then made his
final plea to commissioners,
saying he's estimated the
replacement value for his ex-
isting buildings at the site at
$875,000. He said he never
would have built buildings
on site if he'd known he
wouldn't be able to sell them.
"I don't want to hurt
anybody's property val-
ues, and quite frankly my
opinion is it's not going to
hurt anybody's property
values ' Ingram said. "I'm
going to be the one that's
financially damaged ffthe
board votes against me to
do this because I'm going to
be left holding my property
without an option for selling
it unless I sell it for a severe
discount?
District 4 commissioner
George Emami, a real estate
agent, recused himself from
Ingram's hearing because he
initially agreed to list the site
for the developer before they
realized it would need to be
re-zoned prior to a commer-
cial sale. With Emami on
the sidelines, commission
chairman Greg Tapley ex-
plained to the audience that
commissioners couldn't ini-
tially make a motion to deny
because if the vote tied 2-2,
then Ingram's request would
automatically be accepted.
Instead, Tapley called for a
motion to approve, which
District 3,sommissioner
John Ambrose made and
was seconded by District 2
commissioner Eddie.Row-
land. Tapley then called for
a vote, and none of the four
commissioners raised their
Enough about Venezu-
vote
votes: 6
Thanks for clarifying
that P. Duster didn't vote
on all areas at the BOE.
She doesn't really seem
that much into the job.
votes: 6
It's a fire:station for
goodness sakes. All they
need is a place to
fire trucks, a place to
sleep and akitc to
cook and eat inl "Eat
till they get sleepy and
sleep fill they get hun:
gry" votes: 5
It's sad when a morn
is so overprotective
and controlling that
she thinks, speaks and
' of
her kid's life.
High Road dispute turns heated
A long-simmering
dispute between High
Road neighbors and an
adjacent grading busi-
ness erupted into open
hostility on Saturday,
leading to two arrests.
High Road resident
Logan Cobb, 21, called
the Monroe County JOHNSTON
sheriff's office on
Saturday to report that
his neighbor, Wesley Johnston, 38, had
run him offthe road when he tried to pass.
Cobb said Johnston was trying to back a
load in his truck into lohnston's driveway
so Cobb tried to pass him on Saturda But
Cobb said when he did, Johnston drove
toward Cobb, forcing him offthe road.
When deputy Nicholas Ortiz arrived,
he took both men to
jail, charged them with
disorderly conduct.
Another resident
reported that Johnston
was cursing at him in the
road and told Monroe
County commission-
ers that if they didn't do
COBB something about John-
ston, he would. Neighbor
complaints had prompt-
ed commissioners to censure Johnston on
April 2 for violating the terms of a variance
the county had given him in 2017 to oper-
ate his grading business, Jr. and Sons, at his
home at 394 High Road. They put him on
a five-year probation and warned him not
to continue violating the terms, including
no operating on weekends or after 10 p.m.
Continued from Front
voted 3-1 to turn the fire sta-
tion project over to Hedges.
Commission chairman Greg
Tapley exited the meet-
ing shortly after the closed
session and did not vote
Page 3A
hands.
Rowland said he was
opposed because it was not
known who would buy the
tract from Ingram and what
the new owner intended to
do with it. Ambrose said
he too opposed Ingram's
request, saying it constituted
spot zoning. With none of
the commissioners vot-
ing to approve, the request
was rejected. With all four
commissioners then in
agreement, Tapley called for
a new motion to provide a
clear resolution. Ambrose
then motioned to deny, and
all four commissioners ap-
proved to denT
The Monroe County
Planning & Zoning board
previously denied Ingram's
request at an April 29 meet-
hag, but commissioners had
the final say on May 7.
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its I
Will you 'have the
don't,
'of the Are you
ased?votes: 5
Doste'r started abstain-
ing when her niece
didn't get hired. Go
check that one outl
votes: 5
No citizen should ever
the act of treason, votes:
4
shift from being involved in
day-w-day county business
to viewing the county from a
distance.
Emami, who reiterated the
decision to replace Evans
was not a personal slight,
said, "Based on the size of
this organization (county
government), we need to
become less in certain areas
so that we can function more
efficiently'
Emami said problems oc-
cur when county employees
view the commissioners as
rive different bosses and said
the government would run
more smoothly ffemployees
just reported to Hedges,
Emami said, %T&T,
Apple, name any big com-
panies, the board members
are supposed to be navigat-
ing from 30,000 feet, and so
from my perspective I feel
like we need to move in that
direction. It has nothing to
do with anybody personallf
After about 25 minutes of
discussion, commissioners
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