Staff Backs Old Mize Road Rezoning, but Commission Decision Is Still Unclear

Stephens County planning staff recommended approval of Joshua Perry’s request to rezone about 27.4 undeveloped acres at 0 Old Mize Road in Toccoa, according to the Planning Commission’s June 2 agenda. The proposal would change the tract from Agricultural Intensive to Agricultural Residential for primary residential use, but the agenda does not show whether commissioners ultimately approved the request.

The unresolved decision will shape what can be built on Parcel 033 166, a rural-area property identified for residential use. Planning materials describe the surrounding area as largely undeveloped, rural and low-density residential, so the requested Agricultural Residential designation is a consequential choice about the future character and permitted development of this particular tract.

The request first appeared on the Planning Commission’s May 5 agenda, seeking to rezone the Old Mize Road acreage from Agricultural Intensive to Agricultural Residential. Minutes from that meeting repeated the proposal but did not record a disposition. When the item returned on the June 2 agenda, staff had added its recommendation that the commission approve the request as submitted, leaving the commission’s response to that recommendation undocumented.

Perry is the applicant seeking the Agricultural Residential classification for the parcel and identifying primary residential use as the purpose. County planning staff took a clear position in June, recommending approval as requested. The May minutes list no supporters or opponents, so the public record cited here does not establish whether neighboring property owners or other residents argued for or against the change.

The rezoning remains a proposal in the documented record, not a confirmed zoning amendment. Staff support is a recommendation, not a commission decision, and the June 2 agenda alone cannot establish that commissioners adopted it. Likewise, the May 5 minutes confirm that the request was before the commission but state no motion, vote, approval, denial, tabling or other action.

The next public step is the release or identification of Planning Commission minutes, or another official action record, for the June 2 proceeding. That record should show whether the commission approved, denied, tabled or otherwise acted on Perry’s request. Until then, residents cannot determine from these documents whether the Old Mize Road tract received Agricultural Residential zoning.