Joyce Seaton, who lives in a garden home sold by Woodrow Dorman, protests Dorman’s request for a zone change to make a strip of land behind her house commercial.
The Orange City Council tabled the two biggest decisions on the agenda Tuesday evening even after spending an hour and forty-five minutes on a zone change needed to bring a new electrical motor repair company to town.
The council also tabled a plan to approve a contract to a private company to operate the city’s sewage treatment plant. District 1 Councilor Pat Pullen said his notes from a workshop last year reflected the council told the city staff to work out a contract and then hold another workshop to go over the details.
He said he wanted explanations of the contract before he votes on it. He asked that a workshop be scheduled and wants representatives from Inframark to attend.
The council was prepared to vote on the zone change for a strip of land between Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Old Timers Road. Three couples who own three homes on Old Timers Road protested the zone change from residential-3 to commercial.
Some council members indicated they favor economic development but need to protect homeowners’ rights to quality of life.
As a motion for the change was ready to be made, City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre, City Attorney Jack Smith and City planning Director Kelvin Knauf held a 10-minute impromptu private conference in a hallway with a bathroom.
Knauf then apologized to the council and said he had failed to notify commercial and industrial property owners on the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive area within 200 feet of the proposed zone change. Those property owners needed to be notified.
Earlier in the month, the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the zone change in a split vote.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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