Goose Creek Council Approves Zoning Changes

Goose Creek City Council approved a handful of small changes to the city's zoning ordinance, made room for a new small business and added one home to the tax rolls Tuesday night.

The changes to the zoning ordinance included:

• Leaving conditional permit approval to the Zoning Board of Appeals without a review by the Planning Commission.
• Allowing changes to a planned unit development, granted that the request meets the same standard for review as the city's most restrictive zoning. The example the city gave is if a multi-family building was requested in a PUD, it would require a conditional use permit by the zoning board.
• Prohibiting government or office buildings in certain high-density neighborhoods.
• Allowing the city to park its vehicles overnight at public facilities zoned for conservation — an issue that had come up at the city's Crowfield Golf and Country Club.
• Allowing commercial farms, nurseries or orchards on property zoned for conservation with a conditional permit from the zoning board. It had been an allowed use not requiring zoning board approval.

Also Tuesday, the city annexed 117 Queensbury Circle. This was the last house on Queensbury to annex into the city, according to Mayor Mike Heitzler . He said annual letters go out to the few dozen Crowfield homeowners not in the city to offer annexation. "Commonly, they come in one at a time," he said.

The council also rezoned 122 Redbank Road from residential to commercial. "When Redbank was a country road, these were country homes," Heitzler said. Now, it’s part of a key route through the city. "All of these homes are converting to very nice businesses," he said.