Brittany Sharp owner of the Blue Hydrangea, requested that the Magnolia Planning Commission allow a variance on 2219 South Washington to rezone it from industrial to commercial on March 18.
Sharp said that she wanted to add affordable rentals to Magnolia at the location.
"As a rental property owner, I see first-hand the need for affordable housing. Since most industries and housing have pushed north, I can put this parcel to use providing more housing increasing the tax revenue for the city and vitality to the desolate Southside of Magnolia," she said.
Sharp said that she could adjust the type of housing to what could fit, but that she was looking into a group of tiny houses to allow for small low-cost properties.
Ron Madding President of Tin Man Recycling spoke against the variance saying, "It's always been industrial that needs to stay industrial and housing would be right in the middle of all those factories around. I can only imagine how dangerous that would be for families, especially families with children."
Bobby Weido of DOMAN Lumbar Company said, " We also oppose the rezoning. We have two facilities in the area. We have a planer mill and then we also have a sawmill that borders this property directly on its west side. The sawmill is very loud. We do everything we can to minimize the noise, but it's loud. The second thing would be dust. The other issue that we have is watershed. That area is prone to flood. We're just now dealing with the rain from last week. We flooded. We're not against making things better for the community. Where this is located, we feel it's a bad idea."
Ellie Baker the Magnolia Economic Developer said, "I stand before you for another reason; we need to preserve what we have in industrial sites in industrial districts. We don't have very many of those within the city limits. We had the rezoning and mapping everything looked at a couple of years ago. Everyone was on board with how all of the zones were and so whenever we talk about rezoning the property for any other developments, we need to take into consideration. I would just request that it not be rezoned. We can keep the integrity of our industrial districts and the zoning map as is and not make any decisions at the expense of the city."
Sharp said that a house that has been vacant for 18 months is on the property and asked that if housing is already there she be allowed to add more.
Commissioner Christine Durham asked Sharp if she had a perk test done on the septic system to ensure it will flow.
Sharp said, "This is contingent on all the utilities working."
Durham asked what kind of sceptic systems tiny houses would need.
David Nelson the City Inspector said that would need to be determined by the Columbia County Sanitarium.
Commissioner Joe Pierrat said that despite a house already being there changes to the code prevent any additional nonindustrial-use buildings be added to the area.
The Commission unanimously voted to deny the variance.