John Coffelt, Editor

The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen finalized with second readings three property rezoning requests during the Feb. 4 meeting with 5-1 votes.

Each of these items failed during earlier meetings in the Fall and was brought up for reconsideration during the January meeting.

The rezoning for 99 acres recently annexed “Gilley Farm,” which has been reportedly now sold to Swanson Developments, was zoned low density Residential RS-1 while in the county and now that it is in the city, bears the High Density Residential R-4 designation.

Likewise, property recently annexed into the city on Sissom Lane owned by Donald Parker and related to a subdivision on Interstate Drive, was rezoned from RS-1 to R-4.

The third property rezoned from C-5 commercial to R-3 medium density residential is a property owned by Ronnie Randall on Belmond Drive, just off Oak Dr.

The first two passed with Alderman Julie Anderson offering the no vote, while the Belmont Lane rezoning passed with Vice Mayor Mark Messick offering a no.

The discussions on the annexations for the two properties were delayed due to two months of BOMA not meeting in September and October due to lack of quorum from absences by Messick and Alderman Ryan French.

Then in November during a special call Meeting on Nov. 19 the two annexes were addressed with Alderman James Threet and Donny Parsley absent. Some of the related resolutions failed at that meeting due to a lack of second while the annex request failed with only Alderman Thomas Crosslin voting yes.

In December, Messick requested the annexes be brought before the board to be reconsidered in January. That motion passed with 3-2 vote with Anderson and Parsley voting no and Threet abstaining. Anderson’s motion to reconsider the Belmont property rezoning passed 6-0.

That rezoning failed its second reading in June with a 2-3 vote from the former board. Anderson, Messick and former Alderman Bob Bellamy voted no.  

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.