Archived story
As originally published
Stephens County commissioners reportedly approved Howington Farms, LLC’s request to rezone property on Nub Garland Road in Toccoa at their July 28 meeting, according to a July 29 WNEG Radio report attributing the action to County Planner Jeanne Pauley. The request concerns Parcel 023 132, described by WNEG as 46 acres, and would change it from Agricultural Residential to Residential Single.
The zoning change matters because it alters the land-use rules for a specific tract in a residential area and could open a path toward a residential development. It does not itself authorize a subdivision: Pauley told WNEG that no residential-neighborhood proposal or plan had yet been brought forward, and that a future subdivision would require plat review by both the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners.
The request first received a documented Planning Commission hearing on July 7. Planning Commission minutes say Howington Farms sought the Agricultural Residential-to-Residential Single change for residential development, record applicant comment and list staff’s recommendation to approve, but do not state that the commission took action. The matter then appeared on the Board of Commissioners’ July 28 agenda, moving the proposal to the county’s governing body; WNEG subsequently reported that commissioners approved it that night.
Howington Farms is seeking the zoning classification needed to pursue residential development, though the company has not presented a subdivision layout in the reported account. County planning staff recommended approval at the Planning Commission hearing. Pauley, speaking to WNEG after the commissioners’ meeting, said the irregularly shaped tract sits within a residential neighborhood and described the vote as a rezoning only, not approval of a development plan.
The July 28 Board of Commissioners agenda is an official agenda record showing that commissioners were scheduled to consider the request; it does not state whether they voted, approved, denied, deferred or conditioned it. WNEG Radio’s report says approval occurred and attributes that account to Pauley, but the report does not independently establish the county’s official action. No cited official record identifies conditions on the rezoning, and none documents construction or other development activity on the parcel.
The next concrete public checkpoint is a Board of Commissioners meeting record, resolution or other official action stating what the board decided on Parcel 023 132. That documentation would clarify whether the rezoning took effect, whether commissioners altered or deferred the request, and whether any conditions apply. If Howington Farms pursues a subdivision, a later plat-review process before the Planning Commission and commissioners would determine the proposed layout and related approvals.