APC recommends rezoning Creekside land to business

The Brown County Area Plan Commission is unanimously in favor of rezoning the highway frontage at Creekside Retreat to business use, as well as the land in the floodway to the east of the retreat.

Tricia Dishman, agent for the owner, Voland-Hammond Properties LLC, told the board that there are no concrete plans for those 23 acres.

Some people had been interested it the highway frontage part of it in the past, including a church, she said. But because it’s zoned R1 (residential), options on how to use it are very limited.

The owner was requesting B2 zoning.

“We come here to seek rezoning not because we have major intentions of throwing buildings out there and going crazy and developing,” Dishman said.

Asking for rezoning was the first step in making any future plans, she said. The owner has talked briefly about selling it, but no decisions have been made and no real planning has been done. “As residential, we have zero options to do anything with that property,” she said.

The portion that abuts State Road 46 East had been piled with several feet of fill in 2011 and smoothed out, but nothing has been built on it since except for a sign, light posts and a driveway leading to the retreat.

The owner would like to see it become something that would help increase Creekside Retreat’s business, serve its guests and help the overall economy, Dishman said. It’s also important to him to keep “the Brown County look” in any structure put there, she said.

“Personally, I would love it if we could get a restaurant,” she said.

But, “the potential is wide open. Nothing’s set in concrete.”

B2 zoning allows the land to be used for retail and service businesses and “business recreational” uses like private clubs, theaters, offices, art galleries or tourist homes.

If the retreat’s business grows, it still has four other buildings it can renovate and turn into overnight rentals, Dishman said. They used to be apartments until the flood of 2008.

Before anything would be built on the filled area, core samples would have to be taken in order to determine what kind of foundation would be needed, and that’s an expensive process, she said. That’s why they wanted to see if they could get the property rezoned first.

The positive recommendation on rezoning will be forwarded to the Nashville Town Council, which will get the final vote. The council’s next regular meeting is Thursday, Feb. 15.

Flower shop rezoning request gets thumbs up

The Brown County Area Plan Commission unanimously supports rezoning the Village Florist building to allow a new owner a greater range of uses.

Debbie Herring wants to buy the building at 188 S. Jefferson St. in Nashville. She told the APC that she plans to keep it as a flower shop, but she’d like the flexibility to add more retail garden-type items and gifts to make better year-round use of the property.

The property is zoned RB, restricted buffer; Herring was asking for B1, business. The purpose of RB zoning is to “serve as a transition in land use planning” between residential- and business-use buildings, according to the town’s ordinance.

“Flower shop” is listed as an approved use in B1, but not RB. The building was allowed to operate as a flower shop in RB zoning because it’s been a flower shop for at least 35 years, said Planning Director Chris Ritzmann.

Herring also mentioned wanting to improve the look of the building.

If the footprint of the building was altered and it stayed in RB zoning, it would lose its “grandfathered” ability to be a flower shop, Ritzmann said.

Neighborhood resident Dena Patrick spoke in favor of the zoning change and of Herring taking over ownership, especially after seeing what the Herring family has done to rejuvenate the Brown County Inn.

“This corner has been in dire need of being spruced up,” Patrick said, calling it “the little corner that can’t” because of the zoning problem.

The APC voted 6-0, with Carol Bowden absent for this discussion, to recommend the zoning change to the town council. The council will have the final vote, likely at the Feb. 15 meeting, because the property is in town.

If Herring wishes to make changes to the building, those would have to go before the Nashville Development Review Commission.