Staff Reports
Jefferson’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting saw multiple residents expressing concern during public comment over the lack of zoning inside the City.
“I’m not anti-business,” said John Michael McConnell, “but we need zoning, and it needs to be done correctly.”
Joe McDonnell raised the issue over the pending sale of the Schluter House to the Cammack Family of Funeral Homes and the understanding they intend to conver the home into a funeral home.
“Well, I heard a rumor around that probably one of our most esteemed historical places in this city is going to be turned into a funeral home, which is a service retail oriented business that will be sitting in a residential area in the historic district,” McDonnell said. “Here we are with a dilemma. If we’re going to allow a business to be in a residential area that will not accommodate a retail service type of business that is going to have a traffic flow our streets are not designed. What we need to consider is we put a hold on that type of business.”
The P&Z Board did not address the issue as no formal request has been made, but during the workshop portion of the meeting indicated that zoning takes a minimum of 60 days to implement.
During the workshop the Board did discuss providing Council with a 2017 proposed general zoning map of the City to start receiving input from them as the Board works on specific area restrictions. The proposed map would put most of the city in a residential zoning, with commercial areas along the US 59, Tx 49/Broadway, Polk Street and downtown areas.
Public input on any zoning plan has to be obtained, and no formal decision or recommendation has been made by the P&Z board.
P&Z meets the first Tuesday of every month at 5p at the Transportation Center.