Sullivan County commission adopts rezoning for 5562 Highway 126 after neighbor objections

The Sullivan County Commission voted to adopt amendment number 1 to the county zoning plan on Aug. 14, approving the rezoning of 5562 Highway 126 from R-1 (residential) to A-1 (agriculture).

The rezoning request was filed by Mark and Wendy Bowery and came to the commission with a positive staff recommendation but a negative recommendation from the Kingsport Planning Commission, which cited neighborhood opposition. The commission opened the matter for questions and public comment before taking a recorded vote that met the 13-vote threshold and adopted the amendment.

Commission discussion centered on the practical difference between R-1 and A-1 zoning in Sullivan County and neighbors’ concerns about potential placement of a single-wide trailer on the property. Commissioner Harrison asked why Kingsport’s planning commission voted against the rezoning; staff explained the commission had voted in line with public petition opposition. Commissioner King sought clarification that Kingsport staff (as opposed to its planning commission) had recommended approval; staff confirmed the Kingsport Planning Division’s staff recommended approval, while the planning commission voted otherwise.

Neighbors who spoke during public comment said they feared the rezoning would allow a single-wide manufactured home on the lot and said communication between the applicant and neighbors had been limited. Craig Nedry, who said he had discussed the matter with the applicant before the application was filed, told the commission that Mark Bowery had told him he did not intend to place a single-wide on the property. Gary Calcutt, who said he lives at 5593 Highway 126 directly across from the parcel, presented a petition and told commissioners the petition had grown since it was first circulated.

Commissioners who spoke noted the legal limits of county zoning and that farming is permitted in most zones. Several commissioners reported conversations with the applicant in which he denied any intent to place a trailer; the applicant was not present at the hearing. Commissioner Bandler noted the property sits inside Kingsport’s urban growth boundary and said A-1 zoning would provide some protections if the property were ever annexed.

After the public hearing and discussion, the commission asked members to cast their votes; the clerk announced 16 yes and the item was declared adopted. The commission then closed the public hearing and returned to its regular work session.

The vote followed the commission’s procedural requirement that the rezoning amendment receive at least 13 affirmative votes for passage. No mover or seconder was recorded in the transcript. The transcript does not contain a recorded roll-call showing each commissioner’s individual vote.

Neighbors who addressed the commission urged clearer communication about landowner intentions and raised potential impacts on property values; commissioners who asked questions said they had received assurances from the applicant that no single-wide would be placed on the parcel. The commission’s action changes the parcel’s zoning designation in the county zoning plan from R-1 to A-1.