Decatur City Council approves Nature Creek Reserve plan, backs regional animal-control study and clears several ordinances

The Decatur City Council on May 27 approved a set of land-use ordinances, agreements and appointments and authorized a feasibility study into a regional approach to animal control for Wise County-area municipalities.

The most consequential land-use action was final approval of the Nature Creek Reserve planned development, an amendment to the city zoning code covering about 200.4471 acres. Planning Director Lisa Hammond told the council staff added a sentence to the development standards requiring that “the living area, the AC area for all residential structures shall not be less than 1,000 square feet in area,” a change she said aligns the development with the underlying single-family-2 zoning. Council members voted to approve the ordinance on second reading.

The council also approved two smaller land-use items on second reading: a comprehensive-plan land-use amendment for roughly 5.114 acres and a rezoning of approximately 2.0355 acres (case numbers as published in the packet). Council discussion on the rezoning items included questions about home-size expectations and the measurement of square footage; staff said proposed lot-width-based standards would yield houses with living areas substantially larger than the 1,000-square-foot minimum when garages are excluded.

The council authorized a staff-initiated amendment to the Planning and Zoning Commission rules to allow the P&Z chair to cast a vote when serving as the quorum maker. A second-reading ordinance…