Archived story
As originally published
Stephens County commissioners were scheduled to consider on July 28 whether to rezone 520 North Avenue in Eastanollee, parcel 043 186, from Residential Single to Agricultural Residential. The request, associated with Matthew and Tara Mudge, seeks the change for agricultural purposes and reached the Board of Commissioners agenda with a Planning Commission recommendation to approve it as requested.
The decision would set the land-use rules for a specific North Avenue property, not revise zoning countywide. A change from Residential Single to Agricultural Residential could determine whether the parcel may be used under the agricultural classification sought in the application, making the board’s action consequential for the owners and nearby Eastanollee residents alike.
The proposal first appears in Planning Commission material dated July 7, which identifies the address and parcel, names the requested Residential Single-to-Agricultural Residential change and records staff’s recommendation for approval. That review preceded the Board of Commissioners’ July 28 agenda, where the request was again listed for consideration and accompanied by the Planning Commission recommendation.
Matthew and Tara Mudge are identified in the county materials as the owners or representatives tied to the application and seek the agricultural rezoning for 520 North Avenue. County staff recommended approval, and the Board agenda says the Planning Commission recommended approval as requested. The cited materials do not describe public comments, opposition, or conditions attached to the request.
The agricultural rezoning remains documented as a proposal that moved through Planning Commission consideration and onto the governing board’s agenda. A recommendation is not itself a rezoning: neither the Planning Commission material nor the Board of Commissioners agenda states a motion, vote, approval, denial, postponement or other final action. The county record cited here therefore does not establish that the property’s zoning has changed.
The next concrete public step is the Board of Commissioners’ July 28 meeting minutes or a later official zoning document. Those records should show whether commissioners approved, denied, tabled or otherwise acted on the Mudge request, and, if it was approved, whether 520 North Avenue was formally reclassified as Agricultural Residential.