Council holds over rezoning request for property at 14985 Alabama Highway 251 after neighborhood objections

The Athens City Council on May 11 opened a public hearing on a request to rezone 1.58 acres at 14985 Alabama Highway 251 from R11 (low-density single-family residential) to B1 (neighborhood business), then held the matter over for further review after multiple residents raised objections.

Erin, the city planner, told the council the B1 district is intended for corner lots and limits building size to about 5,000 square feet, listing neighborhood-scale examples such as coffee shops or small retail. She said the planning commission and staff recommended approval and that more intense uses—such as gas stations—are treated as conditional uses that require separate review and, where appropriate, conditions or buffers.

Resident Travis Scrimure urged the council to deny the rezoning, calling it “classic spot zoning” that would be inconsistent with surrounding residential character and could set a precedent for commercial encroachment. He warned that adding commercial driveways and customer traffic at the roundabout on Highway 251 could worsen what he described as an already hazardous corridor: “Even B1 zoning can generate significantly more vehicle trips than residential use,” he said.

Planner Erin replied that Athens has multiple corner-lot B1 sites and that the zoning designation is intended to support lower-intensity neighborhood services; she said conditional-use and buffering requirements would be applied to mitigate incompatibility. Andy Collier, who identified himself as a family member speaking for the applicant, said Mr. Looney owns adjacent parcels and that the roundabout location makes residential development unlikely.

Council members asked the planner to provide a public list of comparable corner-lot B1 examples and conditional-use outcomes so the council and neighbors can evaluate ‘‘apples-to-apples’’ precedents. After hearing public testimony and discussing access and buffering, the council president elected to hold the item over to a future meeting for additional information and site review; the public hearing was then closed.

Next steps: the planning staff will provide the requested examples and comparative information to council members and the record, and the rezoning will return for further consideration at a later meeting.