Jackson aldermen OKs change in zoning

The Jackson Board of Aldermen Monday night released the shackles that kept Michael and Joyce Baker at 977 Donna Drive.

The Bakers, after the highway was widened to five lanes, have been trying to sell their home for 15 years. On Monday night, the board of aldermen voted 5-2 to give them the tools to sell their property by changing the zoning from residential to commercial.

The decision left Joyce Baker near tears of joy, while a group of about five or six men, all homeowners in the neighborhood, retreated from city hall declining to comment. Other homeowners in the neighborhood offered support to the Bakers.

Two previous times, the Bakers petitioned the council for a zoning change and they were denied.

"We couldn't get anyone to even look at it," said Joyce Baker after the decision was made. "The only chance we could sell it was if it was zoned commercial."

Baker denied statements made by the opposition in last month's public hearing that they were asking $300,000 for the property. She said the house has been listed at $175,000 and that a bank several years ago was offered $300,000 for the lot if it was zoned commercial.

The vote passed 5-2. Aldermen Barbara Lohr and Val Tuschhoff voted against the change.

Larry Cunningham, the most outspoken alderman on zoning issue, said he tried to take the emotion out of the decision and do what he thought was best for the city.

"I was on the planning and zoning commission 10 years ago and I was one of the two people who voted for it then," Cunningham said. "My opinion is that East Jackson Boulevard should be commercial. It's an arterial street."

Alderman Dale Rauh agreed.

"There was a lot of emotion on both sides," he said. "I tried to separate that. I feel it's a piece of property on a major artery and it should be zoned commercial."

Tuschhoff said she voted agains the change because she thought an office zone would be more of a compromise and be more of a buffer to protect the neighborhood.