The East Ridge Planning Commission grappled with two residential re-development issues, Monday, during its monthly meeting.
One of the applicants had his project approved, provisionally, while a second was rejected.
Angel Coz Guox and Jaime Vicente wanted the board to change the zoning of their property in the 4300 block of Lazard Street from R-1 to R-2, Residential Duplex. The brothers had bought a dilapidated property that had been used as a multi-family home and were in the process of renovating it before the city put a stop-work order to address the rezoning.
Guox, who is of Hispanic heritage, told the commission that his application spoke for itself. He said that he wanted to make it a duplex and that he would “wait for the answer.”
One man, who lives on Signal Mountain but owns a rental house on Lazard, said he was concerned about how many families may be living in the duplex. Guox told the board that it would be his family on one side and his brother’s on the other.
Tom and Karen Reagan, who live behind the subject property on Spriggs Street, told commissioners that the property “was a wreck” and inhabited by eight people renting by the week before Guox and his brother bought the house.
“He’s really cleaned it up,” Tom Reagan said.
Karen Reagan said that in the Hispanic culture extended families often live under the same roof.
“They are putting all their resources into this,” she said. “They’ve worked hard and invested their money, and they want their kids to go to our good schools.
“I’d hate for it all to fall apart,” she added.
Planning Commissioner Larry Sewell noted that neighbors were in favor of the re-zoning, though he personally believed there are too many duplexes in East Ridge.
“I will go on what the citizens want,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it.”
And neither did his fellow commissioners, as the vote was 3-0 (Two members were absent) to accept the rezoning request.
Mayor Brent Lambert, who also serves as the chair of the planning commission, added a caveat. He said he wanted some assurance from the City Attorney about a legal stipulation that the property would be rezoned contingent upon the Guox/Vicente families living in the structure and not selling it to a commercial enterprise as just another rental duplexes in an area of predominantly single-family homes.
In a second rezoning case, the commission denied Finley Wright’s request to rezone a condemned multi-family complex on Sheridan Avenue from R-1 to R-3 Residential Apartment District.
Wright told the board that she wanted to renovate the structure and make four single-bedroom, high-rent apartments that she would rent for $1,000 a month.
Neighbors in the area opposed to the rezoning told the board that the neighborhood had declined and there was no way Wright could get the high rent she was asking for. In addition, those in opposition raised concerns about the lack of parking for the building that is situated on a narrow street.
Roger Larson, who lives on a large parcel near the subject property was in favor of the rezoning.
“It’s been an eyesore as long as I can remember,” Larson said. “Right now, any improvement would be an improvement to the neighborhood. Anything these people do I’m for.”
The planning commission did not see it that way and denied the request unanimously.
Wright said she would consult with her contractor and possibly re-apply for an R-2 zoning designation in the future.
_ The East Ridge Beer Board met Monday evening to consider transferring a permit to sell beer from one entity to another.
Mapco has been purchased by a business based out of South America. The Regional Manager, Kyle Berry, asked the board to change the license over to the new company.
That request was granted, as there is no changeover in personnel at the East Ridge location.
