Council denies developer's re-zoning appeal
By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
April 16, 2003
In a last-minute change of plans Tuesday, Meridian City Councilmen decided not to accept an agreement between a developer and residents of his subdivision to settle a decade-long re-zoning case.
Councilmen voted unanimously to keep the property along Highway 39 next to Country Squire Estates zoned residential like it has been since the early 1990s. Developer Jack Joyner wanted to re-zone it commercial.
About 24 Country Squire property owners had agreed with Joyner on a settlement that would have changed one of the 1-acre lots to commercial. Joyner said the move would have made it easier to sell the land.
But councilmen said they couldn't accept the agreement because it would have been illegal.
The council's decision followed an hour-long public hearing on the re-zoning appeal, which included some heated arguments from attorneys on both sides.
The vote came nearly 10 years after the property, just off Highway 39 North near Reflections of the Modern Garden, was re-zoned from commercial to residential.
Since then, Joyner has complained to city officials that the property should return to commercial. Joyner said the land is worthless as residential because "no one wants a house facing that busy highway."
Some of the residents in the subdivision, however, have said they wanted the property to remain residential because they don't want a business near their homes a stand that has left both sides deadlocked.
Syria Sturdivant, an attorney who lives at Country Squire Estates, said she was happy with the council's decision.
Joyner wasn't as pleased with the council's decision. He said today that he still is not sure whether he plans to appeal the council's decision.
Thomas said he's not convinced the city council has heard the last of the re-zoning case.
In other matters:
Meridian City Council members voted to accept its city redistricting map and submit it to the U.S. Justice Department for final approval. The vote means the city will not use proposed changes to the map offered by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
