Property owners not happy with district's boundaries

Alterations in the boundaries of the new commercial district along the East Main Street in Jackson didn't quiet all the controversy.

In a public hearing attended by nearly 50 people Monday night, the Jackson Board of Aldermen heard from one property owner who objects to the way the new boundary splits his property. Others who live near the proposed commercial area want to see the buffer zones expanded.

Jackson officials are wrestling with how to rezone the property along East Main Street as well as extensive territory along Interstate 55 in anticipation of the opening of a new interchange. When first proposed, the commercial district ran from Oak Hill Road east to the city limits and along I-55 from Ridge Road southward for about a mile.

The latest version sets up a residential zone along Oak Hill Road, running along Williams Creek south of Main Street and the city's sewer easement to the north. Along Ridge Road, the buffer zone will be 300 feet.

While those changes quieted some opposition, a landowner with an eight-acre tract at Oak Hill Road and East Main Street said splitting his property will make it unmarketable.

Kim Weaver said he already has a contract with a potential buyer, but the property must all be zoned commercial for it to go through.

"What can we do with it split down the middle?" Weaver asked the board.

Weaver said he has worked with the city, selling a house and some of the land to make way for the new street. He has not paid much attention to the zoning issues, he said, and apologized for being absent in the past. A public hearing at the city Planning and Zoning Commission in March drew more than three dozen people.

"We didn't really think it would be an issue," Weaver said.

Another landowner who wants to develop property near Ridge Road asked that the buffer zone take into account other restrictions on commercial property. Tim Goodman, owner of 57 acres, said the 300 foot buffer should include the green space border requirement as well as the 25 foot set-back from residential property.

Landowners calling for the buffer zones oppose the traffic, lights and noise that could be associated with commercial zoning. Agnes Boitnott, who lives on Oak Hill Road, said the buffer zone is important. "He said he doesn't care" what is built at the corner, Boitnott said of Weaver. "Well, we do care."

Other homeowners in the northeast part of the city asked why the buffer zone wasn't extended to their properties. Charlie Ireland, who lives on Shalom Street, said he is already waking up to the sound of bulldozers every morning.

"It is going to be pretty rough to live there," he said. "I don't think I could sell my house" if the commercial zone remains unchanged, he said.

The board took no action on the rezoning proposal. Aldermen expect to see the proposal as an ordinance at their Oct. 1 meeting.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126