Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bristol council adopts two zoning changes, including 50-foot industrial-residential buffer
Summary
The Bristol, Tenn., City Council approved Ordinance 25-27 to amend industrial zone uses and establish a 50-foot buffer where M2 industrial areas abut residential zones, and approved Ordinance 25-28 rezoning 1241 Virginia Ave. Both measures passed unanimously on second reading.
The Bristol, Tennessee City Council on Jan. 6 approved two zoning measures that council members and city planners said aim to refine industrial land uses and better protect adjoining neighborhoods.
Ordinance 25-27 amends the city’s industrial zoning chapters to shift certain heavy or potentially incompatible uses (including coal yards and slaughterhouses) into a heavier M3 industrial category and to remove obsolete listings from the M2 zone. The ordinance also eliminates nuclear electric power generation as a permitted use in M1 and M2 zones. The council adopted a new 50-foot buffer requirement for M2 industrial districts adjacent to residential zones; within that strip only landscaping, landscaping features and utilities would be allowed, with no industrial structures permitted.
Miss Chung, presenting the item on behalf of the planning department, said the changes stem from planning commission work and a November positive recommendation. “It does introduce the concept of a buffer of 50 feet when an industrial district, or an M2 district is adjacent to a residential zone,” she said during the public hearing presentation.
On the same agenda the council approved Ordinance 25-28, a rezoning request to change a roughly 0.34-acre parcel at 1241 Virginia Avenue from R-2 (single-family/duplex) to B-3 (general business). Miss Young said the property’s future land use map projects commercial classification and the planning commission sent a positive recommendation; the office received one comment in favor.
Both ordinances were moved, seconded and approved on second reading by roll-call vote with all members present voting in favor.
What happens next: With second-reading approval, the ordinances will be enacted under the city’s standard effective-date rules unless otherwise noted in the ordinance text. City planning staff said the amendments aim to reduce land-use conflicts and clarify permitted uses across the M1–M3 categories.
