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Planning commissioners back rezoning to allow outdoor tire storage on County Road 218, ask for development agreement
Summary
The Clay County Planning Commission voted to recommend rezoning of a 5-acre Clay Hill property to allow outdoor agricultural tire storage, conditioned on a development agreement that will limit storage area, screening and stacking height.
The Clay County Planning Commission on Sept. 2 recommended approval of a rezoning request (ZON250019) to allow outdoor storage of large agricultural tires on a roughly 5-acre parcel adjacent to County Road 218 in the Clay Hill overlay, with the commission requiring a development agreement spelling out screening, location and stacking limits.
The request sought to change the parcel’s zoning from BA-2 (local/office-commercial) to BB-3 (a heavier commercial district). Jenny Bridal, Clay County zoning chief, told commissioners the staff analysis found the request “inconsistent with the intent of the land development code and the Clay Hill overlay” and recommended denial. Bridal noted the overlay’s design standards and a 15-foot opaque buffer requirement for outdoor storage.
Applicant Sarah Smart (owner/operator of the tire business at the address shown in the application) described the operation as an agricultural-tire service that stores large tires used on logging and forestry equipment. “We are willing to put a top on them or to treat them regularly with a bleach and water,” Smart said, adding the business had tried to place storage inside a pole barn but faced constraints from the fire marshal.
Commission discussion centered on compatibility with the Clay Hill overlay’s aesthetic standards, public visibility from County Road 218 and practical controls (fencing, buffer plantings and stacking height). Several commissioners referenced adjacent existing BB zoning farther along 218 and differing interpretations of whether approval would constitute spot zoning. Commissioner Bill Garrison and others described the area’s mix of longstanding industrial uses and said they wanted protections to avoid a visible “junkyard” outcome; commissioners repeatedly returned to the 15-foot screening requirement and the need to ensure stacks were not visible from the road.
To address those concerns, a commissioner moved to recommend approval on the condition that the applicant and county execute a development agreement before the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) hearing. The suggested agreement would require obscuring screening along 218, limit stacking height to a level that would prevent visibility from the roadway, and confine outdoor storage to the rear portion of the parcel. The motion was seconded and the commission voted in favor; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The Middleburg Clay Hill Citizens Advisory Committee previously recommended approval by a 7–0 vote; Bridal noted the request was not heard by the Clay Hill advisory board, a separate body focused on overlay criteria. Bridal also said the BB district is an older classification no longer selectable in new zoning, and that the proposed BB-3 intensity differs from the BA-2 uses predominant immediately adjacent to the parcel.
The commission instructed staff to draft a development agreement for the applicant to sign before the BCC hearing and told the applicant to meet with staff before leaving the meeting.
The BCC will consider the Planning Commission’s recommendation at a future BCC meeting; the applicant was told to coordinate with staff on the development agreement ahead of that hearing.
