A plan to build a large distribution facility on Jackson Street in Locust Grove is on hold, as the developers withdrew their request to rezone the property in advance of the May 6 regular meeting of the Locust Grove City Council.

  After previously requesting that the matter be tabled to give more time “for all parties to negotiate reasonable and mutually agreeable zoning conditions” according to city staff – a request granted by the council at its April 1 meeting – the applicant sent a second letter dated April 30 that consisted of a formal request to withdraw both applications, to amend the city’s future land use map for the 29-acre site and rezone it from residential-agricultural to light manufacturing. The council voted unanimously May 6 to withdraw the requests.

  Should the developers decide to pursue the project again in its current form, they will have to wait a little while, according to Locust Grove community development director Bert Foster.

  “Since the request was withdrawn by the applicant due, at least in part, to the applicant finding that conditions that were under consideration by the council for inclusion as part of an approval to be unacceptable, the applicant may not re-file the same zoning map amendment request on the same property for at least six months from the date of withdrawal,” Foster stated last week in an email response to questions about the project.

  The first phase of the proposed development was a 1.25-million-square-foot distribution facility with “truck courts, employee parking, improvements to Colvin Drive and all associate infrastructure,” according to a city staff report. The developers planned to use sewer service from the city and water from the Henry County Water Authority.

  If approved, construction would have begun this summer and taken about 12 months. A second phase was to be considered in the future with a separate rezoning application.

  In other business, the council unanimously approved three separate annexation requests for adjoining tracts of land on the northern end of the city. They total almost 85 acres and there is no zoning change.

  Clarence and Carol McQueen applied for annexation of 10 acres at the southeast corner of Colvin Drive and Davis Lake Road. Pamela Pair did the same for 35 acres directly to the north, across Colvin Drive, and so did Randall Crumbley for nearly 40 acres to the north of the Pair tract. All three sites front Davis Lake Road.

  The annexation applications were initially accepted by the council in February, and the Henry County Board of Commissioners brought up all three on a March meeting agenda and raised no objections about any of them. Previous discussions indicated that the parties have no plans to develop the property beyond what it is now, but are wishing to utilize city services.   The council also approved an amendment to the first-quarter FY2019 budget, an ordinance regarding a pay plan for new/added city employee positions, and a bid award for work on the former courtroom/lunch room. All were unanimous.