Commission approves heirs-exemption changes and companion zoning amendment after debate over lot-size limits

The Clay County Planning Commission voted to approve a county-initiated comprehensive plan amendment (comp 25-7) and a companion land development code change (zone 25-00003) that extend heirs-exemption opportunities into the Brandonfield and Lake Asbury master-plan areas and remove a previously included maximum lot-size restriction.

Beth Carson, director of Planning and Zoning, explained that the amendment will make the comprehensive plan language more general so the heirs-exemption opportunity, which allows a landowner to "cut off a smaller piece of land and give it to an heir," can apply in master-plan communities where it had previously been excluded. "The heirs exemption allows for a property owner to cut off a smaller piece of land and give it to an heir," Carson said, adding the intent is that the lot will…