Panel turns thumbs down on Burnett Ferry farm

Four other rezoning applications will go to the county with recommendations.

A couple’s plans for a small farm on Burnett Ferry Road hit a bump Thursday with a recommendation against the necessary rezoning from the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission.

The Floyd County Commission will make the final decision following a public hearing at its May 22 meeting.

“I’m retiring in July ... all I want to do is have some fun and raise some cattle,” John Richard said about the application he and his wife submitted to change their 18acre suburban residential tract at 2140 Burnett Ferry to agricultural use.

“I won’t have pigs or chickens,” he added. “Maybe a goat, a millet field to dove-hunt.”

Planning Director Artagus Newell said other landowners in the rural area have horses, and the rolling topography of the site makes it unsuitable for a large operation. The Richards’ proposal could be an acceptable fit, Newell said, if it were limited to “a hobby farm, not a working farm.”

But a contingent of neighbors showed up to protest and 14 families submitted letters of opposition. Some voiced concerns that the rezoning would allow mobile homes, although Newell said some are allowed under the current zoning. Others were leery of the noise and smell, and the expectation that livestock would draw more coyotes and other predators.

“It’s a hobby to him, but we live there,” said Larry Ford. “I want my kids and animals to be safe . ... I don’t want to have to deal with it.”

Ozella Graves said that, while most tracts are large, it’s a neighborhood with nice homes and families. She and her husband spent their savings on a house and acreage for their retirement, Graves said, and she’s worried a cattle farm would affect property values.

“I want to keep my investment so I can live in a nursing home if I have to,” she said.

Planning commission members voted 6 to 2 to reject the Richards’ request. In favor were Charles Love and Ivy Lowery. Against were Chairman Terry Jones and Tom Bennett, Frank Brown, Ghee Wilson, Logan Boss and Anthony McClain.

The panel unanimously supported four other requests also heading to the county commission: office-institutional zoning for Hill Crest Baptist Church, 2202 N. Broad St.; multi-family residential zoning for a duplex complex on Old Summerville Road across from Argon Drive; community commercial zoning to market an undeveloped tract on Rockmart Highway in Silver Creek; and agricultural residential zoning with a special use permit allowing a wedding and events facility at 6605 Rockmart Highway near the Polk County line.