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Commission approves Spencer parcel rezoning to agricultural with vacancy and no-livestock conditions
Summary
The commission approved Donald Spencer’s request to rezone leftover parcels near Berry Hill Road to agricultural, with the condition that the property remain vacant and no livestock be allowed.
The Santa Rosa County Commission approved a rezoning request (2025-22-RSS) from Donald Spencer on July 24, transferring several leftover parcels near Berry Hill Road and Northrop Road to agricultural zoning with conditions that the land remain vacant and that no livestock be kept there.
Spencer, who said portions of the parcel are under high-power lines and contain a county stormwater easement put in about 2008, requested the change to agricultural zoning in part to reduce tax liability and because the easement limits development. “With that pipe going across that property, we can't sell that land,” Spencer said, describing prior contracts that dissolved after prospective buyers discovered the pipe and development limits.
The city of Milton opposed rezoning the southern portion of the property, citing plans for commercial development along Berry Hill Road and noting the parcel is surrounded on the south by city limits. Tim Milstead, planning director for the City of Milton, told commissioners the city was concerned that agricultural zoning allowing livestock by right would be incompatible with nearby commercial and multifamily uses and asked the county to consider conditions that would protect future city development.
Commissioners and Spencer discussed the property’s limited developability under the easement and the parcels beneath the power lines. One commissioner proposed, and Spencer accepted, language limiting livestock on the property in addition to the zoning board’s recommended condition that the property remain vacant; the commission voted to approve the rezoning with those conditions without objection.
Action and conditions recorded by the commission require the property to remain vacant and prohibit livestock and structures associated with agricultural operations; commissioners said the conditions are intended to preserve flexibility for future commercial development while addressing neighbors’ and the city’s concerns.
