More apartments are on the way.

The Henry County Board of Commissioners voted March 21 to approve a request for RM (multifamily residential) zoning of a 47.4-acre piece of property on Hwy. 155 west of Greenwood Industrial Parkway. The vote to approve was 3-2 with Johnny Wilson and Vivian Thomas voting in opposition and Dee Clemmons absent from the meeting.

More than 30 conditions to the rezoning were included in the approved motion. The developers have proposed 330 residential units in 11 buildings, according to a county staff report.

A number of citizens at the meeting spoke in opposition to this proposal and to any other new apartments in the county.
In other business, new regulations regarding lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries were approved unanimously. “This ordinance will allow us to put requirements in place to make our facilities safer and prevent potential hazards,” said Henry County Fire Rescue assistant chief Michael Black.

The ordinance addresses hazards specific to the proper storage and handling of lithium batteries, outlining strategies that building owners and operators must implement to reduce the potential risks associated with battery-related fires and explosions. A permitting process was created to ensure that the ordinance is being properly applied.

Three zoning items on the meeting agenda were postponed for a month.

A proposed amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan, designating 21.379 acres north of Hwy. 20/81 at International Avenue as high-density residential, did not pass as the initial motion to approve received a 2-2-1 vote. When advised by legal counsel that the board could not leave the matter with a tie vote, a subsequent motion to table it until the April 18 meeting passed 3-2.

Two unrelated agenda items, one of which was a request for mixed-use zoning of a 21.5-acre site on Jonesboro Road to allow multi-family residential as well as commercial development, were also tabled until April 18.