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Commissioners reject developer's request to rezone 36.8-acre parcel, keep two-acre minimum
Summary
The Meriwether County Board of Commissioners voted June 23 to deny a request from Chisel Mill Design and Build LLC to rezone roughly 36.81 acres to allow one-and-a-half-acre lots for an initial five-lot phase, citing infrastructure and road-paving concerns and preferring to retain two-acre minimums in the area.
John Knight, representing Chisel Mill Design and Build LLC, asked the Meriwether County Board of Commissioners to rezone a roughly 36.81-acre parcel at Ellis and Forest roads from rural (RR) to R1 to permit phase one of five 1.5-acre lots. Knight said water service reaches the property and argued smaller lots would make the development marketable and could help finance paving for Ellis Road.
Opponents and commissioners pressed Knight on infrastructure and process. A resident and several commissioners asked why the developer had not obtained engineering cost estimates for the road before seeking rezoning, and questioned whether rezoning the entire parcel would allow future phases to convert more acreage to 1.5-acre lots. Knight said the project had been reduced from earlier plans and that additional phases would require new infrastructure and approvals.
Commissioners discussed past approvals in the county and whether prior 1.5-acre zoning had occurred elsewhere, noting records would be reviewed. After public comment and deliberation, a commissioner moved that the board not rezone the property to R1 and to keep a two-acre minimum for that area; the motion was seconded and passed by the board.
The action preserves the current rural two-acre-lot standard for the parcel and leaves the applicant able to return with revised plans or pursue separate parcelization and future rezoning steps through planning and zoning processes.
Next steps: the county administrator said staff would pull previous Chisel Mill rezoning requests for review and the applicant may pursue engineering and separate-track plats before returning to the board.
