That prayer was how Larry Golden, chairman of the Moody Planning Commission, opened Monday’s joint work session between his board and the City Council at Moody City Hall. The two-hour work session doubled as a public hearing for property owners along St. Clair 10 (Park Avenue) about a proposal to rezone some of the land to B-5 Commercial, which allows for “business or professional office, business support service, … warehousing, wholesaling and distribution centers, subject to a number of restrictions and limitations,” according to city attorney Bill Weathington.
“The intent of (the proposed rezoning) was not to be punitive or anything,” said city project manager Dave Treadwell, who also serves on the city’s Commercial Development Authority. “It had one basic goal, really, and that was to protect the property owners.
“I would not like to live next door to an Outback restaurant. But a good portion of Park Avenue out here is zoned B-3, which means your neighbor could sell to Outback restaurant, and they could build and nothing you can do about it. So some of the idea was, put a zoning that would require whatever went there to be a friendly neighbor, and something we would have in the ordinance that would require standards for both the construction, landscaping and so forth, that it would be a good neighbor, if that makes sense.”
Currently, only the Red Diamond campus — formerly a poultry farm — is designated a B-5 property.
Treadwell, along with Golden and Weathington did most of the speaking Monday, discussing both the ramifications and scope of the rezoning proposal. According to Weathington, discussion of rezoned property is not done with the intent of forcing any of the landowners to move or sell to anyone.
“If you own property that’s proposed to be rezoned, and you don’t want to change your use of it, not only do you not have to, but, going forward, you have the option to rebuild it if it’s destroyed and to address the uses that are already in place,” Weathington said. “Whoever buys it can continue using it as a residence, as long as you don’t abandon that use.”
The intent, according to Golden, is to both expedite the process of development in the event of interest from potential corporate buyers.
“I know from experience, any commercial business will pay more if the property’s already zoned, because they don’t want to have to go through the zoning process,” Golden said. “Once it’s zoned B-5, that property value goes up. Even though you’re selling as a residence, it’s still more valuable to you, you can ask more for it than if it was R-1 (residential).”
Others were less than enthusiastic. Resident Greg Gilley, who has voiced much of the opposition to proposed re-zoning, reiterated his position to the Council to “leave us alone” and do re-zoning “on an as-needed basis.”
“We did Red Diamond when they came out there,” Gilley said. “It was not B-5 when Mr. Bowron came out there and everybody worked with him. I never fussed a day. I ate dirt while they were digging that lake and never complained one day.”
Bobby Isbell, who sold his family’s land to Red Diamond, called it “the best decision I ever made.”
“Our land values increased in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, while going down across the U.S.,” he said. “As our elected officials, we depend on you to make judgment calls for all of us.
“The best decision is for uniform growth with a master plan. All cities have one. We could turn the Park Ave. corridor into another Liberty Park, with lights and businesses like Red Diamond.”
Another property owner, Eddie Murphree, said he intends to re-zone and sell his farm as soon as he can.
“I’m ready to see the city of Moody pick up and move,” Murphree said. “The 30 acres I’ve got is gonna be re-zoned if I can get it re-zoned, whether y’all go or not, I don’t care. It’s a business maneuver for me, and if the city’s got somebody that wants to move in over there I think it’s a good thing.”
Fred Moody, a lifelong resident of the city, said the average resident in the area has been there “46.6 years” and that residents are willing to cooperate with development.
“When Mr. Isbell’s land was re-zoned, I was at the meeting,” he said. “There were absolutely no objections to it. I think that probably would be the case on other pieces of property. … An industrial environment certainly is going to destroy the residential community, and it could be that in 20-30 years, you would have the bullets going through the roofs out there. That’s just, maybe, inherent. If everyone is like Red Diamond, that would probably not be the case, but an industrial environment could bring in some smelly products, could bring in a number of things that would really deteriorate the residential aspect of this area.”
No action was taken at the work session, but mayor Joe Lee — who called the session at the most recent Council meeting — did request that the Planning Commission send letters to residents in the area, to find out who wants re-zoning and who does not.
“I think we’re here tonight on a fact-finding mission to find out where we are, so the Planning Commission can make an informed decision on how to move forward,” Lee said. “I would ask that the Planning Commission notify everybody by letter, so we can find out who’s interested in zoning and who’s not interested in zoning. Then we can come back and put that back on the map, and see where we are.”
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