Zoning approved for auto dealership

By John Howell
Planning commissioners voted during their monthly meeting Monday to recommend for alderman approval two rezoning requests, one that would allow an auto sales facility on Highway 6 East in the old LMT Trucking building and another to allow a manufactured home district on Patton Lane.
Commissioners also approved a request that will allow construction of an addition at Batesville Tooling and Design in the W. M. Harmon Industrial Complex.
Cannon Kirk of Grenada said that the facility at 1342 Highway 6 East would initially sell used cars. The Kirk family owns dealerships in eight north Mississippi locations, he told commissioners. Kirk also said he was seeking a new car franchise to locate at the Batesville site.
Kirk’s request would change the present zoning classification from I-1, light industrial, to C-3, commercial.
Alderman Teddy Morrow, who attended the meeting said that the LMT building at the corner of McMahan Drive had been vacant for over a year and that a site for another auto dealership is under development further east on the south side of Highway 6.
Commissioners attending — Barbara Bruce, Melanie Buford, David Billingsley, Chris Townsend, Vic Wardlaw and Judy Savage, voted unanimously to recommend the zoning change for approval by the Batesville Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Commission Chairman Willie King presided.
Alderman Ted Stewart’s request to change a lot on Patton Lane from R-7, residential to M-1, manufactured housing, would allow him to place a mobile home on the lot. Stewart also asked for final plat approval for a one-lot subdivision on the property. Commissioners approved both of Stewart’s requests, also by unanimous vote.
The recommendations from the planning commission for zoning changes will trigger hearings during the December 6 meeting of the Batesville Board of Mayor and Aldermen where the public will be given opportunity to comment on the rezoning requests. Aldermen will vote on the requests following the public hearings.
Also up for a public hearing on December 6 will be Joe Snyder’s request for a conditional use permit that will allow him to sell seafood between the Shell convenience store and East Oaks Shopping Center. Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that city aldermen approve Snyder’s request and that it be good for two years.
Batesville Tooling and Design got the go-ahead for an 80-foot-wide addition to its present facility at 210 Tower Drive. Contractor Harry Guckert made the request on behalf of the business. Guckert said business owners had worked with the Batesville Fire Department to gain approval for a fire suppression system that the additional square footage will make necessary for the existing facility as well as the addition.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the site and building design specifications Guckert presented. Once site and building design specifications are approved by planning commissioners, they do not go to aldermen for approval.
Other site and design specifications approved by the planning commission include:
• New colors and re-branding for the former Shell convenience store at 1185 Highway 6 East. The site will become a Mobil fuel outlet;
• Approval for paint at signage proposed by Tony Barragan for 101 Panola Ave. Barragan used the colors and suggestions from Batesville Main Street, Batesville Code Administrator Pam Comer said. The former location of Lowe’s Dairy Bar will become Square Tacos;
• Commissioners also approved Mike Fudge’s site and design specifications for his shopping center at the southwest quadrant of the Highway 6 and 51 intersection. Fudge is rebuilding the center following a fire last summer. The building owner said he will leave the existing vacant lot between two buildings on the center’s west side. He said he would build a fence behind the lot as a screen for the Sand Creek creekbank foliage.
Comer also introduced Shonnah Weaver to commissioners. Weaver will fill in for Comer during a pending leave of absence, she said. Weaver has been working as administrative assistant in the city clerk’s office.
The planning commission meets monthly each fourth Monday in the City Hall at 5 p.m.