East Main zoning request returns for consideration

JACKSON, Mo. -- A new version of a rezoning request that led to a contentious Jackson Board of Aldermen meeting two years ago will come before the board again in the coming weeks.

Tonight, the board is expected to set a public hearing for Oct. 7 on a request to rezone 15.5 acres of property east of Shawnee Boulevard between the parallel streets of East Main Street and Woodland East. The property currently is zoned R-2 (single family residential). The six property owners want to rezone a strip along East Main Street C-2 (general commercial) and an abutting piece of land on Woodland East R-3 (general residential).

According to the City Code, a request for a zoning change that has been denied can be revisited after two years.

Two years ago, the board turned down a request to rezone 53.5 acres of land on both sides of East Main Street from single-family residential to general commercial and general residential. Part of the property is owned by Jack Priest, who lives on the land and operates his company there. The company repairs tractor-trailer refrigeration units.

Neighbors' complaints

Priest sought the rezoning after the city, responding to complaints from neighbors, told him to build a fence to hide the trailers and refrigeration units from view or to clean up the property. Priest argued that his business was grandfathered in when the city annexed his property in the 1970s.

That issue is involved in a legal settlement currently being worked out between the two sides.

At a Board of Aldermen meeting in April 2000, Priest charged that Mayor Paul Sander and Alderman Larry Cunningham have conflicts of interest in this matter because both are real estate agents. He also asked to poll the board to find out how many of the members are Christians. Sander repeatedly told him he was out of order.

'A lot of negative input'

Forty-five people who owned property in the vicinity signed petitions opposing any rezoning. Eighteen property owners signed petitions in favor of the rezoning.

"The board reacted to a lot of negative input from adjacent property owners," city administrator Jim Roach said. It ultimately rezoned the property general residential.

A judge later threw out the zoning the board had assigned to the property on a technicality. The property reverted to its original single-family residential zoning.

The new rezoning request encompasses few acres. That may make it more amenable to the board, which has two new members since 2000, Roach said. "It's approaching pretty much what the board assigned him and he rejected."

How approving a commercial zoning would affect the city's insistence Priest clean up the property is a central issue, Roach said.

"That question is being dealt with in the settlement agreement," he said. "A big part of the settlement agreement itself somewhat depends on what happens on the zoning process."

Last Wednesday, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved Priest's zoning request, paving the way for the a public hearing. Two members were absent.

The public hearing on the new request is expected to be set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182