Council approves rezoning for church site at McLease Road on second reading

Anderson City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 26-02 on second reading to rezone parcels at 1101, 1103 and 1105 McLease Road from LO (Limited Office) to NC (Neighborhood Commercial), allowing a church to occupy the existing building and site.

Chris Darnell, the planning staff member presenting the request, said churches are permitted in the LO district but only on parcels of at least 2 acres; the existing lot configuration totals 1.8 acres and the applicant was unable to acquire adjacent property to meet the LO minimum. Darnell said the planning commission and staff recommended NC because adjacent parcels fronting Greenville Street already are zoned commercial and the rezoning would be a modest extension of commercial zoning.

Council members asked whether the city’s forthcoming Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) public/institutional (PI) designation could later apply to the parcel. Darnell said the PI district is under consideration in the UDO and that the parcel could be designated PI during a future, citywide rezoning process if council chose to do so. Council members also asked about buffers adjacent to St. Joseph’s Catholic School; staff explained the landscape code’s adjacent-use buffer and said a church abutting a church/school constitutes compatible uses, so no additional buffer would be required in that case.

A council member moved approval, another seconded, and the ordinance passed unanimously on second reading. The council did not specify any conditions on the approval; because this was a second-reading approval the rezoning is effective under the city’s standard ordinance-adoption process.