JACKSON BOARD OF ALDERMEN SAYS IT WILL RECONSIDER REZONING PRIEST'S PROPERTY

JACKSON, Mo. -- Since the beginning of April, Jack Priest and others who own 53.5 acres of property along East Main Street have been wrestling with the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Jackson Board of Aldermen in an attempt to have their property rezoned commercially. The tussle continues.

Tuesday night, the board voted 5-3 to reconsider its vote June 5, when it rejected a motion to invoke a section of the City Code which allows it to consider a zoning request without the required waiting period. That request was to consider rezoning both sides of East Main Street general commercial beginning 400 feet east of Shawnee Boulevard and extending east to the end of Priest's property.

The board will reconsider the request at its July 3 meeting.

At its June 5 meeting, the board had also rejected Priest's request to rezone the property from single-family residential to general commercial. That vote, which was in line with P&Z's recommendation, will not be reconsidered.

Alderman Joe Bob Baker made the motion to reconsider the June 5. "On June 5, I thought there was an air of confusion over the meeting," he explained afterward. "I didn't like the way I voted, so I asked the city attorney how to revote."

Attorney John Lichtenegger, representing the landowners, questioned the board how the motion came about and also questioned a provision in Baker's motion that would rezone the property general residential only to a depth of 270 feet, leaving some property out of the new zoning.

"We're very concerned about how that might fragment the Priest ... property," he said.

Planning and Zoning Official Rodney Bollinger said the 270 feet was arrived at because that is the depth of adjoining property owned by Gerald Huskey. Tuesday night, the board rezoned the Huskey property at 2080 East Main St. from single family residential to general residential and approved a special use permit for the operation of a professional office on the land.

In other business, the board set a public hearing for July 17 to consider rezoning 15.9 acres of property at 1600 N. High St. from single family residential to general commercial and a special use permit for 16.8 acres of property at the same location. Ronald Clark proposes to establish a golf course at the location.