Jackson County zoning commission recommends rezoning 2 acres for engine machine shop

The Jackson County Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of a request to rezone the front 230 feet (about 2 acres) of an approximately 18-acre parcel from agricultural to commercial for an engine/machine shop, the commission decided after a public hearing and discussion with neighbors and the applicants.

The proposal matters to neighbors because the rezoned portion fronts a rural county road and residents said they value the area’s quiet, rural character. The commission’s recommendation now goes to the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, which must hold its own public hearing and make the final decision.

Applicant Tyler Seiber told the commission he and his father, Steve Seiber, want to use a portion of the property for engine machining and related shop work. "Basically, we're requesting is, 2 acres of our property on 3 Twentieth Street ... we wanna do things the right way, you know, get it zoned properly for what we wanna do," Tyler Seiber said.

Neighbors who spoke at the hearing urged caution. Peggy Beshin, who said she lives directly west of the site, said: "Most of us, I think, a lot of us out there are out there for 1 reason. We like being in the country. It's nice. It's peaceful. It's quiet. We don't really wanna be by businesses." Pat Ketman, who lives across the road, asked about testing of performance engines and the potential for larger vehicles or semi-trailers, saying, "If you're doing performance engines, how do you test those out and rev them up ...?" Several other neighbors raised similar concerns about noise, traffic and property values.

In response, the applicants and staff described the intended operation as a low‑impact machine shop. Tyler Seiber said most work will be inside the building, customers will typically pick up finished engines rather than frequenting the site, and "there'll be no testing of the engines. There's no testing of cars. There's nothing like that." He added that the applicants are requesting rezoning for only the front strip so the bulk of the parcel can remain agricultural and said he would be willing to require deliveries to pull onto the property rather than stop on the highway: "If that is a concern, I'm completely okay with telling him, hey. You've gotta pull in there on low. I'm I'm cool with that because that's safety." The applicants also said they were limiting the rezoning request to two acres specifically to reduce the chance of future expansion across the full 18 acres.

Commission discussion focused on whether to attach conditions to a rezoning that would limit future uses. Some commissioners noted the small size of the rezoned strip — 200–230 feet from the center line of the road — and said the parcel was unlikely to support a large operation on that narrow frontage. Commissioners also discussed the county’s historical practice about conditional rezoning and restrictions; some favored allowing restrictions in some cases, while others said they prefer not to place conditional reversion requirements on buyers.

A motion to close the public hearing was made and approved. Later, the commission moved to recommend rezoning the front 230 feet (about 2 acres) to commercial with no restrictions. The roll call vote recorded the following commissioners voting "yes": Brian Manning; Christine Papp; Monica McHugh; Maria Keys; Sandra Gerlach; Tom Stewart; and Mike Burke. The motion passed and the commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Jackson County Board of Supervisors for final action and an additional public hearing.

Next steps: the rezoning recommendation will be scheduled for a Jackson County Board of Supervisors meeting, where the board will accept public comment and make the final decision. The applicants were advised to attend that meeting; staff said the supervisors will open the item to public comment again.

(Reporting note: All direct quotations are from the public hearing record and are attributed to speakers at that hearing.)