The Dawson County Board of Commissioners on July 17 approved two zoning actions that will allow families to build or place homes near relatives.

One vote approved a special-use request from Angela Boyles to reduce the minimum lot size for a manufactured home from the ordinance standard to allow a new unit on family land. A second vote rezoned a parcel on Goodson Road from residential-agriculture to residential-suburban so a new single-family house may be built next to the applicant's parents.

Planning director Richard (last name not specified in the transcript) told commissioners both items had unanimous recommendations from the planning commission. He said the manufactured-home request was a routine kind of exception the county considers when parcels are smaller than the three-acre threshold in the land development code. He said the Goodson Road parcel had been recently parceled to create a smaller lot and the zoning change would bring it into full code compliance for a suburban-residential future land-use designation.

Applicant Angela Boyles told the board the property she received as a family gift will sit on a permanent foundation and already has a septic tank in place. "We would just like to put our home on our land and and enjoy the rest of our life there," Boyles said. Commissioners made note of keeping family members close as a reason they favored the application.

Applicant Lindsey Benson said she and her husband plan to build next to her parents so the family can support one another; Benson noted her husband is stationed overseas in the military. The board approved the rezoning request after the applicant described the plan as a primary residence intended to be near older family members.

Both applications were approved by motion and second; the board recorded approval of each application during the meeting.

The approvals carry procedural requirements under the Dawson County Land Development Code; the board did not attach additional conditions beyond standard permitting and code review. There were no public objections recorded at the hearings for either item.

The board moved on to other business after the zoning votes, which were handled in the county's usual public-hearing format.