Neil Hobbs of HHJ Group LLC speaks during a public hearing at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
Michael B. Hardison | Sampson Independent
Clinton Senior Planner Lyle Moore breaks down the rezoning request at the Clinton City Council meeting on March 4.
Michael B. Hardison | Sampson Independent
The site for a new residence in Clinton is on tap following a rezoning approval from City Council, which granted HHJ Group LLC access to build desired residential property.
The rezoning request was brought forth at Tuesday night’s council meeting by Senior Planner Lyle Moore during a public hearing.
During the hearing, Moore presented the request from HHJ, which is seeking to rezone 16,155 square feet of property, currently zoned highway commerical, to R-8 residential, or high-density residential.
“The property is at the intersection of De Street and Beaman Street,” Moore explained.
According to www.lawinsider.com, highway commercial zoning refers to commercial uses that rely on automobile or truck traffic, and the tourist population, which includes licensed establishments servicing automobiles and trucks, motels and restaurants, service and repair shops, establishments supplying fuel, building materials and hardware.
“The property is bordered to the north, east and south by highway commercial and is bordered to the west by R-8 residential,” Moore said. “The property has been posted and all the adjoining property owners have been notified. The lot has access to city water and sewer already.”
Moore stated that the planning staff has not received any questions or concerns about the property, and added that the Clinton 2035 comprehensive plan calls for the preservation of all residential neighborhoods within the city limits when considering rezoning requests.
Neil Hobbs of HHJ spoke on behalf of the group during the public hearing. “I’m just buying it to build a residence,” Hobbs said. “The property has been vacant, and I actually lived near the property 35 years ago and it’s been there all this time.”
There were no public comments during the hearing, and Moore confirmed that the planning staff had recommended approval of the request.
“I thank you for your time and I appreciate you coming out, and I appreciate you for investing in the town,” Mayor Lew Starling told Hobbs.
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