Planning commission approves annexation, recommends R12 rezoning for 155 Brierwood Road

The Tyrone Planning Commission voted to approve annexation of a 4.67-acre parcel at 155 Brierwood Road and recommended the town council rezone the property from agricultural residential to R12.

Planning staff presented the petition and said the parcel (parcel number 0739-023) is currently zoned agricultural residential in the county and is shown as a potential annexation area on the town’s future land-use map. "Staff's recommendation is that we approve the rezoning and annexation petition from AR unincorporated to R12," planning staff Philip said, adding that the item was advertised as R18 but the applicant requested R12.

Applicant Jerry Croer told the commission he supports annexation and that he does not anticipate negative impacts. "I just want to request it to be annexed into the city of Tyrone and just share the same zoning that already exists," Croer said, adding that he did not plan to build small homes and had little to add beyond staff’s presentation.

Several nearby residents spoke in opposition during the public hearing, citing concerns about the minimum-home-size difference between R12 and the higher-intensity R18 zoning. Marian Wells, who lives on Strawberry Lane, asked whether the R12 designation would permit 1,200-square-foot houses on the property and warned that smaller homes could reduce neighboring property values. "Because the houses across the street there are all a minimum of 1,800 to 2,100 square feet ... we're concerned about maintaining the consistency of the value," Wells said.

Sheena Morris of Castlewood Road voiced similar reservations about future development and values near the intersection. A member of the public asked why a property owner would choose annexation if it means paying higher town taxes; staff answered that annexation shifts municipal service responsibility (for example, police and building services) from the county to the town and gives property owners the right to vote in town elections.

Commissioners pressed the applicant and staff on home size and ingress. Croer said he would not build smaller houses, estimating a target size of at least "2,500" square feet, and that only two or three houses would likely fit the parcel. Philip told the commission that tax records list the existing house at roughly 1,650 square feet and that, absent documentation showing the house is 1,800 square feet or larger, the existing residence would be nonconforming under R18. "If there can be records provided that update... that the square footage is indeed over 1,800 feet, we can take that evidence to council and council can make a different decision," he said.

After discussion, the commission moved and carried a motion approving annexation and separately moved to recommend rezoning the parcel from AR to R12 to the town council; the rezoning recommendation passed with one recorded opposition. The staff report and the public comments will be forwarded to the mayor and council for final action.

What happens next: the commission’s recommendation and the record of the public hearing will be sent to the town council for its decision; the council can act on the rezoning request based on the record or consider additional evidence (for example, documentation that the existing dwelling’s square footage meets the R18 minimum).

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the planning commission meeting record and include planning staff Philip, applicant Jerry Croer, and residents Marian Wells and Sheena Morris.