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Council refers contested rezoning back to planning commission after lis pendens revealed
Summary
Council voted to return a contested rezoning petition to the planning commission after staff and the city attorney disclosed a quiet-title (lis pendens) filing that could affect ownership of the parcel and a shared driveway used by a neighboring nursing home. Mayor and city attorney recommended referral while litigation proceeds.
Councilors on Thursday voted to send a contested rezoning request back to the planning commission after the city received notice that a quiet-title lawsuit had been filed on the property. The petition sought to rezone a parcel from P1 (planned) to SF2 (single-family) but city attorney Ernest told the council that a lis pendens filed Nov. 4 could affect ownership and that returning the matter to planning was the appropriate procedural step.
Isaac Mooneyham, who said he has a purchase contract on the property, told the council the lis pendens appears to concern a narrow portion of the lot used as a driveway by an adjacent nursing home and not the home he plans to occupy. Cliff McKinney, representing the neighbor who filed the petition, urged the council to refer the application back to planning, calling the rezoning premature while the court case is unresolved. Brandon Adams, president of Reliance Healthcare, said the driveway is vital for deliveries, trash pickup and three daily shift changes and warned that rezoning part of the nursing-home facility to single-family could create operational and safety problems.
City planning staff said the property’s legal description and parcel data were verified for the prior planning commission review but that the lis pendens notice arrived after that meeting. The council moved and seconded a referral back to the planning commission; the clerk recorded the motion as carried 5–1 in favor of the referral. The referral means the planning commission will revisit the application after the litigation and any updated surveys or legal descriptions are resolved.
At the hearing, staff and council discussed buffering requirements, proximity (approximately 20 feet) between structures, and the possibility that revised surveys could affect the scope of any rezoning. The council did not make a decision on the rezoning itself; the referral preserves the city’s procedural option to consider the same application later if the litigation is resolved.
