JOHN COFFELT Manchester Times

Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt told the Board of Zoning Appeals during their recent meeting that a large number of variances would soon be presented to them following a recent change to the county zoning resolutions.

The Coffee County Commission recently amended the zoning resolution to set the minimum lot size as 5 acres in the A-1 agricultural district. A provision to allow people to carve off a portion for single lots was built in by a variance. That variance request would go before the BZA.    

“You guys are probably going to be asked – somebody has 8 acres and wants to sell or give to a kid, that’s going to come here,” Hunt said.

“(It’s going to start) quickly. And there are going to be a lot. Your very next meeting next month is probably going to have a bunch on it.”

The change designates a minimum lot size in A-1 separate from other districts like RS-1 low density residential. Those wanting to split a farm into a smaller portion can seek to rezone the property or a variance. Both would be out of the hands of the Planning Commission.

“What the beauty of that thing is … any parcel 5 acres or more requires no permission from anybody. You can go down a road a mile long as long (as it’s a 50-foot right-of-way) and you can go side by side by side as long as there 5 acres without asking permission,” Hunt said.

Though appointed boards have been criticized recently for having authority without being elected, boards created and governed by TCA code and filled by appointments (such as BZA and the Planning Commission) are free to make decisions based on the information.

“You are supposed to have no favors. You don’t owe anybody nothing because they voted for you,” Hunt said. “You are an independent thinker making decisions based on the information on this table.”