Cleveland Municipal Planning commissioners had a much less contentious agenda at a called meeting earlier in the day.
County planning commissioners approved a request from John Pesterfield to rezone property at 1022 Bell Road S.E., and a request from Melba Davis to rezone property at 1250 King St. S.E.
Pesterfield requested the rezoning of a parcel located on the corner of Bell Road and Dalton Pike from Forestry/Agriculture/Residential (FAR) to Rural Commercial (C-1) for retail purposes. The request was approved by a 6-0 vote.
Pesterfield did not specify a retail business, except to say there were no retail services in the community outside of Walmart.
“Anything I build will be more aesthetically pleasing than anything down the road,” he told commissioners.
He said he anticipates a signal light at the intersection sometime in the future to alleviate traffic safety concerns expressed by neighbors.
An unidentified man, who left the meeting after the vote recommending approval to the Bradley County Commission, presented a petition with about 70 signatures. He said retail would be detrimental to the community by degrading the overall appearance of the neighborhood. Bell Road is bordered on the north side by Waterville Municipal Golf Course and is not too far from Waterville Community Elementary School.
A woman, who also left before the meeting ended, complained about the high volume of traffic created by the school and by passing trucks.
“There is an enormous number of transfer trucks from Georgia,” she said. “It’s impossible to get onto Dalton Pike from Bell Road when school lets out.”
She said instead of trying to turn onto Dalton Pike, most people go the other direction to Blue Springs Road.
Another neighbor, Roy Williams, said unlike his neighbors, he would be unaffected by development of the corner parcel.
“I’m just asking that this time you let the little guy win,” he said.
Dr. Allen Burnett, pastor of Charity Baptist Church, approached commissioners on behalf of about 70 members of the congregation who opposed an unknown retail business and the possibility of beer signs proliferating on the property.
“Our concern is that he won’t say what kind of retail business he is building,” he said after the meeting. “There is no common ground for agreement if he won’t say what he is doing.”
The request by Melba Davis to rezone property located across from Charter Communications from FAR to C-1 was opposed by her cousins.
Davis said her only intention is to rezone it so she can sell it and move to another state to be near her children.
Her cousins, who left the meeting before it ended, spoke on behalf of their mother, Davis’ aunt, who resides on property on the back side of Davis’ land. They cited alleged problems of an illegal nature at a nearby motel, and safety concerns due to the high volume of fast-moving traffic on King Street. They also expressed a desire to let their mother live out the rest of her life without the pressures of commercial development.
Davis said her father bought both properties in 1953, but sold a portion to family and kept the rest.
“It’s my property. I want to rezone it so I can sell it,” Davis said.
The request was approved by a vote of 5-1.
In other action, the Bradley County Regional Planning Commission approved the following items by a vote of 6-0:
- Preliminary and final plat approval on property located on Hughes Lake Road belonging to Burt Hawkins.
- Right of way abandonment of unopened alleyway off Polk County Avenue as requested by Fred Boring.
n Rezoning request by Robert Graham for property located on White Oak Valley Road from C-1 to FAR.
n Adopted the city of Cleveland’s Planned Unit Development standards.
Cleveland Municipal Planning Commission members quickly approved three items on their agenda.
- A request by Robert Cabrera for final plat approval for Lots 1 and 2 of Mouse Creek Crossing. No information was available about Cabrera’s intentions for the purpose of the request.
- Request by Margaret Arnold for final plat approval for Arnold Blair Road Property, a subdivision of 2.64 acres on Blair Road N.W.
- A request by Michael Randolph on behalf of Steven Breeden to rezone property at 2158 Westland Drive from Light Industrial (IL) to Heavy Industrial (IH) for the purpose of recycling household waste.
