Special meeting on Dec. 12

 

SOUTH POINT — There was no discussion about changing South Point’s zoning ordinance Tuesday night at the village’s regular monthly meeting due to the absence of the village’s legal counsel.

Instead, the village council will hold a special meeting Monday, Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss changes to the ordinance.

According to South Point Mayor Ron West, village attorney Randy Lambert was unable to attend the meeting for medical reasons. He is expected to be at Monday’s meeting.

South Point is considering changes to its current zoning ordinance, parts of which date back to the early 1980s. Council members have discussed changes since October, when controversy over the development of a former South Point elementary school spurred resident complaints about current allowable uses of property in residentially zoned areas.

Village leaders held a special meeting in late October where they were lobbied by residents of that neighborhood to exclude most of the uses currently allowed under village law. They wanted only single family homes, condominiums, religious buildings, utility substations and other infrastructure allowed, as well as village-operated facilities in areas zoned as residential.

The following night, at the regular November meeting, a large number of residents on the opposite side of the issue implored the council not to overhaul the ordinance in a way that could stifle future development. They said the changes proposed the night before went too far.

It is unclear what changes will be proposed in South Point’s new ordinance, as village officials have kept a tight lid on it, to date. It is expected to be available and discussed at next week’s meeting.

Lambert, who has drafted the legislation, suggested at October’s meeting that the language of the old ordinance be “modified to make this (the new ordinance) read more like a zoning ordinance instead of a building code.”

West said late last month that the proposed ordinance will be a compromise between those on both sides of the issue. He said while it is based largely on the results of the October special meeting, it may not be as far reaching as some residents would like.

Both sides of the issue have been heard, said West.

“There are some things that we are not going to be able to take out of it because it affects the rest of the village,” West said last month, adding it was being designed to “represent the rest of the village” not just the neighborhood where the controversy is taking place.

He also said, “I don’t know exactly what the council will approve and disapprove,” noting he will only be asked to vote in the event of a tie.

Under state law, it will take three readings and a majority vote of approval for a new or amended ordinance to become law.