Union County commissioners tied on a vote to change the land use on a 0.85-acre parcel on the northeast corner of State Road 100 and County Road 231 about one mile west of Lake Butler, resulting in the denial of the application.
Commissioner Willie Croft’s absence due to illness resulted in the four-member vote. Landowners Tom and Karen Jenkins applied for the land’s use to be changed from residential low-density to commercial. County Attorney Russ Wade said a subsequent vote to change the parcel’s zoning was unnecessary since the land use application failed.
Several nearby residents complained that a business on the corner would worsen traffic conditions on State Road 100, especially when motorists attempt to turn left off the state highway onto the county road to the north. Cathy Sams told commissioners she lives east of the subject parcel and recently purchased and cleaned up another lot nearby.
“It was pretty bad,” she said of the recently acquired parcel. “It was a wreck, and we cleaned it. It’s a beautiful lot now, and nobody would want to buy that lot and build a house with a commercial building right there.”
