PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
2 MAY 2023
The Chair Connie Howell opened the meeting asking Tommy Pope to offer a prayer and lead the pledge. The minutes of 4 April 2023 were moved for approval by Commissioner Erin Curry, seconded by Commissioner Terry Jones, and were approved unanimously.
With no sub-divisions or plats to be discussed, the Chair moved to old business and there being none, moved to new business. Commissioner Erin Curry asked about a recent call from Tom Hart requesting information on starting his own brewery, a call she referred to Commissioner Terry Jones, who in turn referred Mr. Hart to the County Executive (CE) Graham Stowe and to the state. Next area of new business – a developer from Lincoln County who has built several homes in Giles County, none as a sub-division. However, the homes do typically connect with County roads with a driveway, none of which at this time are described in the Planning rules for the county and are not under the purview of the Planning Commission. There was considerable discussion about the balance between builders either on their own property or building one-family homes for others, and builders that build several homes on small acreage without a county road. Several examples were given, e.g., Fall River Road, six acres at Bunker Hill for seven homes, culverts required at county expense, and culverts done by owners but highway department providing the rocks at taxpayers’ expense. Recommendations to check with CTAS, and with Lincoln County on how they handled this situation were made, with concerns not to cross over into zoning considerations. The CE said he would be happy to check with CTAS for the Planning Commission. One of the possible building approaches by the Lincoln County developer is connecting to a state aid road which has a rail on the side and how would that allow connectivity to the highway. The consensus seemed to be that at this time, and given no stated specific rule in place, that the Commission members would just keep a close watch on the situation to ensure nothing improper is being done. While after this discussion, calling CTAS was determined not required at this time, the CE said he would be calling Lincoln County for information that might help Giles County move forward at a later date on this and other similar situations.
Member of the public Lois Aymett asked how individual citizens can find information when land is being cleared near their county residence. The current answer is that information is not generally available, just word of mouth most useful.
The CE thanked everyone for their responses to a survey he had provided to them. The survey is to help anticipate county problems, and what can be done to resolve, how to chart a course.
A motion to adjourn was made by Tommy Pope, seconded by Commissioner Terry Jones, and was approved unanimously.
ATTENDEES: Members of the Commission – Chair Connie Howell, Malcolm Moore, Kristen Pfeiffer, Tommy Pope, Bill Myers, Scott Stewart, (absent Tamieka Russell, John Haislip) Commissioner Members – Terry Jones, Erin Curry, Annelle Guthrie (absent)
Others: Commissioner Joyce Woodard County Executive Graham Stowe
