The city council has rejected a Planning Commission proposal that would have altered the chart of permitted uses to allow gravel mining in four more zoning districts.
Columbus Inspection Department Director Kenny Wiegel said the proposed revision would allow mining in general agricultural, highway commercial, highway commercial restricted and light industrial zoning districts.
City ordinance currently only allows mining in heavy industrial districts — and will stay that way after Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The proposal stemmed from the case of Dennis and Julie Gartman, who own a piece of land off of Sand Road near the Highway 82 bypass. Wiegel said the planning commission could not even hear the Gartmans’ request unless the chart was amended.
Dennis Gartman, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he’s started cleaning up the property after its previous owner left it in poor condition. Wiegel said Gartman plans to create a three or four acre lake on the property. Gartman said he wants to build cabins around it.
Some land on the property has already been dug up, but Wiegel said that stopped after the inspection department learned about it.
“It is actually already messed up,” Gartman said. “All I’ve done is improve it.
“Only a third of this property is in the city,” he added. “All the rest is in the county, and there’s no rules saying we can’t do it in the county. So that would leave a wall on a third of the lake that’s not fixed.”
Weigel said the portion of Gartman’s land within city limits is split between general agriculture and highway commercial zoning.
Wiegel said he agreed with the commission’s recommendation to amend the chart.
Most of the council did not.
“They go out there and cut a gaping hole in the land and they leave it there,” Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box said. “The land is completely useless except for a fishing lake. I think it’s a blight to do this in the city.”
The council voted 5-1 to deny the proposal. Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner voted for the proposal.
Turner briefly offered a substitute motion to table the matter until the council could gather more information, but withdrew it.
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin said he was concerned about what might happen five to 10 years in the future if the council allowed the ordinance change. Wiegel said the council could deny requests as it wished, but Gavin contended that wasn’t always easy.
“When that ordinance is changed, if it fits the criteria, it’s hard to deny those,” he said.
After the vote, councilmen told Gartman he could still improve the land or put in slopes around the lake. The ordinace prevents him from digging up the land further, however.
Box said the council’s vote wasn’t about trying to hinder the Gartman’s development.
“We’re not just talking about you, we’re talking about this entire city,” Box said. “All of these guys have got agricultural in their ward and if we change this, then we’re opening it up for anyone who sees a little sand or gravel to go into another area.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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