On Thursday, July 28, the Putnam County Commission voted to rezone 60 acres in Fraziers Bottom to C-2 (High Density Commercial). The property, owned by Linville Enterprises Golf, was previously zoned OPI (Office Park Industrial) and R-2 (Multi-Unit Residential).

The zoning change makes the 60 acres available for a wide variety of commercial usages that could affect abutting property which is zoned Residential.

Zoning change procedures require the County Commissioners to state specific reasons for their vote. Commissioner Brian Ellis stated that more land was needed for business development and the change would be for the betterment of the entire area. Commissioner Ron Foster said that the announcement of Nucor’s decision to build a steel mill in Mason County has increased the need for more commercial property in Putnam County. Commission president Andy Skidmore stated that commercial is the highest and best use of the property.

For Linville Enterprises Golf, the unanimous vote ended a process which began on February 28th of this year with the filing of the rezoning application. Nucor announced their intent to build the $2.7 billion Mason County steel mill on January 12, 2022.

In other business, 911 Director Mikyle White informed the commission that a slip has occurred in the access road to the proposed 911 Tower site on the Kale property on U.S. 35 near the Putnam-Mason line. White stated that the commission had a choice of two unknowns — the cost of fixing the access road or the cost of building an access road to an alternative location off Plantation Road.

Jessie Parker of S&S Engineers told the commissioners that $20,000 for core drilling would be necessary before the cost of slip correction could be determined. Parker stated that an access road to the Plantation Road site would require the installation of a $50-60 thousand box culvert. The cost of construction of the access road to the Plantation Road site is also unknown.

The commission voted to authorize S&S Engineers to seek Geo-Tech bids for going forward at the Kale property site.

The commission also approved an annexation request by the City of Hurricane to bring 0.53 acres into city limits. The property was formerly the site of a service station on U.S. 60 at the intersection with Alternate State Route 34.

The next County Commission meeting is Tuesday, August 9.