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Commission approves rezoning for tree-service parking lot on Hickory Flat Highway with conditions
Summary
The commission recommended rezoning 5.48 acres from R40 to General Commercial to allow a tree-service company to park six large trucks and operate an administrative office, with conditions barring on-site vehicle or equipment maintenance and storage of tree waste or landscaping materials.
The Cherokee County Planning Commission on Oct. 7 recommended approval of a rezoning from R40 to General Commercial (GC) for 5.4793 acres at 9290–9320 Hickory Flat Highway to allow a tree-service business to park work trucks and maintain a small administrative office.
Commissioners voted unanimously (6-0) to recommend approval with four explicit conditions: no equipment maintenance on-site, no truck maintenance on-site, no storage of tree waste on the property, and no storage of landscaping materials. The motion was made and seconded by commissioners in attendance; the record shows the panel agreed to add those conditions to ensure the use remains limited to parking and administrative activities.
Thomas, the county staff presenter, said water service is available and that any entrance onto State Route 140 requires a Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) encroachment permit prior to land-disturbance permit approval. Staff also noted the site is subject to a 35-foot zoning buffer adjacent to residential properties and a 75-foot stream setback with a 50-foot undisturbed buffer at the rear of the property.
The applicant’s representative, Christina Fishback, said the business (CR Tree Service) will use the existing house on the site as an office and will park up to six large chipper trucks behind the building on a designated gravel lot. Fishback told commissioners, "There is not going to be any outside storage of materials of any kind whatsoever on the site." She confirmed vehicles and heavy equipment would be serviced off‑site and that the trucks would be emptied at approved disposal sites before returning to the lot.
Why it matters: The parcel lies along a corridor where commercial uses already exist and the corridor-and-nodes portion of the county’s character-area map contemplates some nonresidential uses. Commissioners said the site plan, the proposed screening (6-foot privacy fence and landscape strip) and the operational limitations make the proposal an acceptable transition between existing commercial nodes and adjacent residential areas.
Next steps: The applicant must obtain a GDOT encroachment permit for access from SR 140, complete a residential‑to‑commercial conversion permit with building inspections (including ADA compliance for the office), and obtain required stormwater quantity and quality facilities as part of the land‑disturbance permit.
