By Vince Lennon
LaFayette, GA – What seemed a rather ordinary and routine meeting of the Walker County Board of Commissioners Thursday night exploded into a personalized ad hominem attack targeting District 3 Commissioner Brian Hart; over his vote to not grant a zoning variance request for a longtime Mineral Springs landowner.
After some initial confusion over procedural requirements with District 2 Commissioner Mark Haskew absent, a second vote was later taken on the variance request, which also failed to garner the board’s approval.
For months, Paul Leming had seen his rezoning request tabled by the board despite a previous determination by the Walker County Planning Commission to deny the application. Leming wanted nearly 3 acres of a 12 acre plot of A-1 agricultural land off Old Mineral Springs Road to be reclassified as R-3 residential, in order to build a proposed home for his niece.
Walker County’s Comprehensive Land Plan calls for a minimum of 5 acre plats of agricultural land to be considered for residential rezoning appeals.
Leming cited current similar home and land parcels nearby in his variance request, which were constructed prior to the current county comprehensive land plan now observed.
In his vote to deny, Commissioner Hart cited the 5 acre minimum and suggested the petitioner to do the same, as others have, including Hart himself.
The first 2-1 vote to approve Leming’s request was deemed a failure, as it lacked a third affirmative vote due to Askew’s absence. Chairwoman Angie Teems withheld from the initial vote, citing a perception that she could only vote in a tie-breaking scenario for the four person panel.
When Leming objected to the decision despite garnering the majority of yes votes from Commissioners Robert Blakemore and Gene Wilson, the fury only grew when Hart refused to reconsider the decision in a secondary motion.
“Brian, what’s the deal that you don’t want to let this go by? Are you Jack Hart’s boy?”, inquired Mike Leming, the petitioner’s brother, who personalized his response to Commissioner Hart’s decision. “When I worked up at the Chevrolet place, I mean nobody liked him, nobody. But I did,” said Leming of the commissioner’s father, eliciting audible snickers from the audience.
“I can’t believe this, man, I don’t get how you get any friends,” concluded Leming.
“When we start chopping up ag areas, we lose thousands of acres of farmland each month across the country,” replied Hart, who again suggested the Leming family re-apply for the variance request, with Walker County’s 5 acre requirement in mind.
In similar fashion, four other agricultural to residential zoning requests were denied by Commissioner Hart, despite those having recommendations for approval by Walker’s Planning Commission.
Justifying his position and subsequent vote, Commissioner Hart said April Lynn Morgan’s four requests for rezoning A-1 land off Joe Robertson Road could create a de facto subdivision of residences amid usable farmland.
Preceding the last order of business, Chairwoman Teems requested a five minute recess to presumably study commission by-laws.
Citing the confusion surrounding the quorum on the Leming zoning appeal, Teems said they would hold another vote on the matter.
Teems, joining with Hart in his vote to deny, leaving a 2-2 stalemate with the motion failing again.
Teems said her vote to deny was partly due to the petitioner’s admission that he simply didn’t want to comply with the 5 acre stipulation. Teems suggested the Lemings do have that mechanism available to them to consider should they wish to revisit the rezoning request.
In less controversy, commissioners did approve property variances for a 500 square foot tiny home to be built on Huffman Road in LaFayette, as well as residential to commercial rezoning approval for a Flintstone distribution warehouse to be constructed on Chattanooga Valley Road.
In new business, the commission approved a resolution to adopt a millage rate of 5.15 for unincorporated parts of Walker County and a 6.645 millage for incorporated properties.
The board also approved a November 4th referendum to authorize the continuation of SPLOST, a special purpose local option sales tax for Walker County.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Walker County Board of Commissioners is set for October 2nd, 6pm in LaFayette.