BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
LAKE BUTLER — The Union County Board of County Commissioners, acting as the Board of Adjustments, held the required public hearing and, after no public comments for or against and board discussion, voted at its May 16 meeting to approve an application and grant a special exception to the county’s Future Land Use Plan to allow the building of a conference center just west of the city of Lake Butler off C.R. 238.
The center will cover 15.91 acres and will feature a single story frame barn with metal roofing. Surrounding the structure where will be two concrete patios and an open covered area along one side. The site plan calls for a parking area composed of asphalt millings that is designed to be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant with appropriate signage. The outside areas will be lighted with LED flood lights.
The total area under cover at the structure, including patios, will be 8,485 square feet, with a floor area of 1,530 square feet in the main area, that will be closed in. The structure will be accessed by a lime rock surface road leading into a 25 foot wide grass surface road (Northwest 102 Trail) and this road will be marked by a sign at its intersection with C.R. 238 by a wood and metal sign 49 inches by 36 inches in size.
The structure will be largely shielded from sight of CR-238 by a wooded area and the property will be appropriately landscaped.
The site plan for the project has been completed by an engineering firm and has been approved by both Union County Building Inspector Wilson Whidden and the North Florida Regional Planning Council. The motion to approve both the application/plan and the resolution needed to make the necessary changes to the county land use plan was made by Commissioner Lacey Cannon and approved unanimously by the board.
