The Spalding County Board of Commissioners Nov. 20 voted to table a combined application from In House Real Estate LLC (Dorothy Brown) seeking a special exception to operate a rural event center and a variance reducing the required 200‑foot perimeter setback to 100 feet along a portion of a Locust Grove Road parcel.

Planning staff said the site met lot‑size and basic criteria for a rural event center but that floodplain and existing property lines limited buildable area. Applicant representatives, including engineer Daryl Johnson, said the venue was planned to be tucked toward the rear of the property and that they had secured "written support from approximately 20 plus neighbors." They proposed fencing, plantings and other mitigation along the northern buffer where the reduction was sought.

Neighbors and several commissioners raised objections. Anne Dawson, who lives across the road, said she is "completely opposed" and asked the board to push any development farther back. Commissioners focused on how carving residential Lots 1–3 could create 200‑ft buffers that would dramatically shrink the buildable area for an event center and debated whether the current layout effectively forces the need for a variance.

Staff explained that the Planning Commission recommended approval of the special exception but took no action on the variance. Commissioners said a denial would bar reapplication for a year, so tabling to allow the applicant to present revised site options was preferable. The board voted to table the combined application for further revision and possible return at the next cycle (staff suggested a chance to return Dec. 15 but more likely January).