By Jogee Lenarduzzi
StarkvilleNow correspondent
The Starkville board of aldermen Tuesday night shot down a request by Michael Kraker to allow residential uses in a business zone.
Kraker wanted to add apartments next to one of his existing apartments on the corner of Highway 182 and North Montgomery, much to the dismay of surrounding neighbors.
Aldermen Matt Cox motioned to deny Kraker’s request and was second by Roy Perkins. All aldermen present except Richard Corey agreed with the motion. Janette Self was not present at the meeting.
Cox denied the request because he felt Kraker had not met three of the five criteria for conditional use of a zone Kraker wanted to make it conditional residential use although it is zoned commercial. These three criteria were land use compatibility, sufficient site size and mitigation techniques.
Neighbors had spoken out against the project, which would include 12 new apartments and 24 additional parking spaces.
Neighbors of the existing apartment complex complained to the Planning and Zoning Commission at their last public meeting about run-off problems, noise issues, indecent exposure, trash, etc.
Although Kraker appeased the Planning and Zoning Commission, he could not convince neighbors of this project’s merits.
The board voted in favor of four other requested zoning alterations that were previously approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The aldermen also approved the much discussed and revised False Alarm Ordinance the updated Administrative Fine Schedule Resolution and the Stop Sign Implementation Policy. Each of these changes was recommended by the Infrastructure Committee.
The Infrastructure Committee suggested revisions to the False Alarm Ordinance to make fines less steep. The ordinance now will not issue a fine until there have been four false alarms. The fine can be waived if the user can prove they are taking steps to fix the false alarms.
Since the False Alarm Ordinance was enacted, false alarms have decreased dramatically, according to the Starkville Police Department. P.C. (Mac) McLaurin made the motion to approve the alterations to the ordinance with the stipulation that if false alarms increased again, the ordinance would be revisited. The motion was second by Cox and passed unanimously. The Stop Sign Implementation Policy simply gives the aldermen the authority to assign or take away stop signs around town. It also allows citizens of a neighborhood to petition to have a stop sign removed or placed in their area.
McLaurin made the motion to approve and was second by Corey. All present voted in favor.
The board then approved the Administrative Fine Schedule Resolution. This set next year’s fine schedule to decrease false alarm fines and increase others such as animal vaccination fines.
The board handled several other matters of mostly routine business and heard about progress and future plans for the Mississippi Horse Park.
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