Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rezoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners approve rezoning of small Cotton Grove parcel after church cemetery concerns; residents and church warn graves are on the strip
Summary
The Board approved a downzoning to RS for a 0.61-acre parcel once held as conditional-use industrial; members of New Jersey AME Zion Church and neighbors said the strip contains historic graves and pressed the county to ensure graves would not be disturbed.
Davidson County commissioners on Monday approved a rezoning request that will change a small portion of a Cotton Grove Township parcel from a conditional-use industrial (CULI) designation to RS (low-intensity residential), after residents and church leaders raised concerns that the strip includes graves associated with New Jersey AME Zion Church.
Staff and the applicant described the request as a localized downzoning. Sandy Walker, representing Golden Crescent Investment Corporation and Leonard Craver Realty, told the board the company listed the parcel for sale and a prospective buyer intended to combine the strip with adjacent property for residential use. Walker said survey work revealed graves within the narrow 17-foot flag strip that provides access from New Jersey Church Road; she said the graves predate recent property transfers.
Shavon Burton, speaking for New Jersey AME Zion Church, said the church cemetery dates to the early 1900s and that some markers include dates in the early 1900s. Burton and other church members urged the board to recognize the site’s historical and spiritual significance and to avoid any road or construction that would disturb graves.
Belton Pettaway and other church members asked the owner to consider donating the strip or otherwise ensuring the cemetery is protected; Pettaway said the small strip had “graves on it” and urged careful handling if the land were sold or combined with a neighbor’s yard. Applicants told the board they would not develop a driveway across the graves and that their intent was for the adjoining neighbor to buy the rear portion and add it to his yard.
Staff recommendation and vote - Planning staff recommended approval and framed the application as an extension of the surrounding RS zoning pattern; the parcel had remained CULI as a holdover from a prior solar-related rezoning. - The board adopted the staff recommendation and a statement of consistency and approved the rezoning by vote (motion and second recorded; chair announced the motion carries).
What the county recorded - The approved amendment changes about 0.61 acre of the parcel to RS. Staff noted the request aligns with Davidson County’s Land Development Plan policies favoring residential extension within this neighborhood pattern. - Commissioners added a public note on the record that if future activity affecting the cemetery is proposed, it would be presented to the board and would require appropriate state approvals.
Context and community impact - Neighbors objected to the lack of notice for earlier planning-board review; county staff said required notices and a sign were posted and that letters to adjoining property owners were mailed, though some residents said they did not receive mailed notice. - Church speakers emphasized historical value and requested clarity that graves would not be disturbed if the land changes hands.
The rezoning decision is limited to the zoning map amendment; any future physical changes that might affect the cemetery would require separate permitting and would be subject to state and local regulations concerning gravesites and historical resources.
