JACKSON – Residents who packed the meeting room at the Jackson municipal building to hear plans for medical offices and retail space at the corner of Harmony and Jackson Mills roads will have to wait until August to make their concerns known to the Jackson Zoning Board of Adjustment.
On May 30, residents filled the meeting room to hear testimony on an application that has been submitted by Allen Morgan and Morgan Harmony Development. Even though chairs were brought in from other rooms in the building to accommodate the crowd, there were still dozens of people standing up and sitting on the floor.
The were two applications on the agenda that evening and the Allen Morgan and Morgan Harmony Development application was scheduled as the second application to be heard.
About an hour into the meeting and while the first application was being heard, the members of the zoning board were alerted by the fire marshal and representatives of the Jackson Police Department that the meeting room was exceeding its permitted capacity.
Zoning board officials asked anyone who was not seated in a chair to leave the meeting room in the hope of continuing to hear both applications that were on the agenda.
In response, some members of the public started shouting “Move the meeting.”
Most of the residents in attendance were present to listen to the Morgan Harmony Development application and were sitting quietly during the first application in a packed room that was starting to get overheated and humid just from the number of people.
When the board’s chairman, Stephen Costanzo, announced he had been informed that if no one left the room the meeting would be cancelled because of fire code violations, many people in the audience applauded.
Zoning board officials informed attorney Ray Shea, who represents Allen Morgan and Morgan Harmony Development, the application would be carried to another meeting.
“We have a situation before the board, a logistical situation, so we are now going to take this (Morgan Harmony Development application) and try and find a larger venue,” Costanzo said.
Indications were that the next hearing on the application will be held at one of Jackson’s two high schools. Board members carried the application to Aug. 15 at a location to be determined.
Costanzo said the zoning board officer will coordinate the location with the Jackson School District.
Allen Morgan and Morgan Harmony Development are seeking a use variance from the zoning board in order to conduct retail and office operations in an R-1 residential zone where those uses are not permitted. At present there is a home at the location, 720 Harmony Road. Morgan wants to construct a three-story building containing retail space and office space.
Residents who live within 200 feet of the property at the corner of Harmony and Jackson Mills roads were initially notified a public hearing regarding the application would be held in June 2017. Residents attended the board’s June 7 meeting and were told the application was being carried to August.
The residents showed up in August and were informed the application was being carried to October. In October, residents returned to the municipal building only to learn the application was being carried to December. Due to inclement weather in December, the application was carried to the special meeting on May 30. It is now scheduled to be heard on Aug. 15.
