Changing the location of entrances to a planned storage facility west of Hillsboro made all the difference to Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission members.
The commission previously recommended denial of a rezoning request that would allow a storage facility in the 6000 block of Hwy. B, across the highway from the Raintree Plantation development.
After revisions to the plan, though, the commission recently reversed its decision and recommended approval of the rezoning request.
That’s a change from March 25, when the board voted 5-2 to recommend denial of the rezoning request.
At that time, the plan called for access to the site through the Raintree Market gas station and convenience store across Hwy. B from the main entrance to Raintree subdivision and on a curve of what is a very curvy state highway.
In casting their votes then, planning commissioners said they agreed with nearby residents who submitted emails before the meeting opposing the plan because of concerns about increasing traffic on that curve.
Jay Voisey of De Soto, who is seeking to build the facility, withdrew that application and submitted a new one – abandoning the idea of sharing the gas station entrance and instead building two entrances further west on Hwy. B.
The P and Z board heard that application on May 13 and voted 4-2 to recommend approval of the rezoning request and development plan.
The Jefferson County Council, which has the sole authority to rezone property in unincorporated areas, preliminarily voted 6-1 on June 14 to approve the revised request. A final vote could be held June 28.
The rezoning takes in three adjoining lots on 13.17 acres.
The lots currently have two homes, one occupied and the other vacant, but most of the area is not developed, and slopes down away from the highway.
Voisey said he bought the property last fall and plans to offer 68 storage spaces for boats, recreational vehicles and equipment (up eight spaces from the original plans), plus eight mini-warehouse storage buildings ranging from 2,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet making up a total of 343 units.
According to the development plans, one of the homes would remain.
Gene Fribis of Heneghan and Associates, who represented Voisey at the May 13 public hearing, said changing the entrances made access to the site safer.
“The sight distances were challenging, but I think we’ve put them in the correct places,” he said. “I think the photos we supplied helped illustrate what we’ve got in mind.”
Fribis said the current zoning of the three lots, R-7 (allowing homes on lots of at least 7,000 square feet) would have been more problematic, assuming someone would want to use the property for that purpose.
“At 7,000-square-foot lots, someone could build about 40 lots on this property,” Fribis said. “That would generate about five times as much traffic, if not more, than a storage lot.”
Planning commissioners Tim Dugan and Danny Tuggle voted to deny the original request but voted for the revised plan.
“I felt that the improvements (in the entrances) were persuasive enough to satisfy my concerns about what needed to be done,” Tuggle said. “That was my main concern, and that was addressed (in the new plans).”
Dugan said the photos of the area helped him decide.
“I was pretty convinced that they had the sight distances under control,” he said. “I’m not 100 percent convinced, but I wasn’t crazy about the way they had it before. They seem like they have the traffic concerns under control.”
Three people spoke against the revised proposal at the May 13 meeting, which was held in person.
Councilwoman Renee Reuter (District 2, Imperial), who cast the sole dissenting vote on June 14, said she still had concerns about the access into the site.
“I read the record of the (May 13) hearing, and I’m not so sure that the traffic situation in that area dictates the kind of development that this will represent, with people bringing RVs and boats in and out of a problem area,” she said.