A large crowd at Cullman City Hall holds up signs rejecting or supporting a proposed rezoning change as City of Cullman planning commissioners prepared to vote. (W.C. Mann for The Cullman Tribune)
CULLMAN, Ala. – The City of Cullman Planning Commission on Monday night voted to recommend to the Cullman City Council a request to rezone property on Morningside Drive Southwest to a classification that would allow the development of the site as an apartment complex if the property owners choose.
Residents of the Kinwood Acres neighborhood around Morningside and supporters packed the city hall auditorium to protest the proposed rezoning of an undeveloped 10-acre parcel near the intersection of Morningside and Main Avenue Southwest. Weichert Realtors- Carter & Company Real Estate Agent Wendy Childers was present to represent property owners James Roden and Elizabeth Jochum in their request to rezone the property from R-2 (low-density family dwellings, private homes) to R-4 (high-density family dwellings).
Childers came forward to address the commission during the public hearing. On the other side of the controversy, when Commission Chairman Mike Voss asked if anyone had come to speak against the request, 59 audience members raised their hands. The opponents were well organized; where they had been cut off at the last meeting for repeating each other’s arguments, a small group of speakers each presented separate and specific statements on their reasons for opposing the measure Monday night.
As the time for a vote came, Voss informed the crowd that the commission had to follow the law and city ordinances and that this body could only make a recommendation to the city council, which will make the final decision on rezoning.
With that, the commission approved the motion to recommend, but on a split vote. Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs and Commissioners Voss, Wendell Copeland, Bobby Kelley and Sherry Drake voted to recommend the rezoning. Commissioner Steve Cummings voted against the measure, and Andy Page and Trent Lowery abstained.
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