Council approves Jenkins' zoning request

Grovetown City Council approved a zoning variance request that will allow a Grovetown property owner to add more apartments to his property.

The approval at Monday's semimonthly meeting comes despite the lots not meeting minimum square-footage requirements.

The council approved the variance allowing Larry Jenkins to build five apartment buildings, in addition to the seven buildings he has already constructed at Sycamore Place Apartments off Newmantown Road. The variance was granted based on a contract that was approved by the city council in 1985. That contract stated Jenkins could build as many as 52 apartment units on the property.

"I'm glad to see that this variance request passed because I think this shows that the city is acting in good faith in recognizing the contract that was approved in 1985," Councilman Tony Arnold said.

Jenkins' building permit was approved in the spring, then rescinded when Planning and Zoning Director Dick Taylor discovered none of Jenkins' seven remaining sites meet the 24,000-square-foot building requirement. The lots range from 5,400 square feet to just more than 11,000 square feet.

After taking the matter to the Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals, the council and then the Planning and Zoning Board, Jenkins said he was ready to sue the city if the contract was not recognized.

The city council pro-actively approved building permits for all five instead of just the one that Jenkins was applying for. He will build one, add a street and build the remaining.

"I make a motion that we include all the property that was part of that original plan in that little complex," Councilman David Daughtry said. "And that takes care of all of it and be done with it so it doesn't go on and on and on until he gets them all built."

The city council added the stipulation that construction on the buildings be completed by Dec. 31, 2006.