Residents voice concerns on rezone request in Resaca

The rezoning hearing scheduled for Tuesday’s Resaca City Council meeting has been rescheduled due to a procedural issue with notices, but it didn’t stop residents from voicing concerns about the proposal, which would rezone property on Hwy. 136 East to commercial from agricultural. The official meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Ty Rutledge requested the zoning change so that he could house his business, RUTCO Recycling, a company that transports recyclable materials to other facilities, on the property. According to Rutledge, he originally planned the business for property on Lover’s Lane, but was unable to get the business license due to not having enough land. He has purchased 20 acres on Hwy. 136 with plans to use two of those acres for his business.

Residents voiced concerns ranging from aesthetics, pollution, zoning issues and to Rutledge being related to two members of the Resaca City Council, members Sandy Adams and Todd Rutledge. Adams is his great- aunt and Todd Rutledge is his fourth cousin, he said.

Russ West owns 118 acres that surrounds the property and said he had three primary issues with the rezoning request, including the change in land use.

“There is no commercially zoned property east of the railroad tracks until Hwy. 225,” he said. “Having spot zoning, a standalone island by itself not connected to any other commercial property, opens the door for every property to do this. It’s not in the master plan.”

West said rezoning the land would have a negative impact on the surrounding properties.

“No one wants to build their home next to a recycling center,” he said. “The land needs to remain state residential.”

Rutledge assured the city council that the business would be well concealed, sparing the aesthetics. In addition to the building being fully enclosed and all work contained inside, he plans to make the outside complementary to the surrounding residential and agricultural areas.

“It will have a screen fence around it and then trees surrounding it,” he told the council.

But, it may not be enough.

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