East Ridge building official Brad Hayen, in background on left, talks to Bobby Hudgens at a home that Hudgens intends to convert to office space at the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and South Terrace.
The East Ridge Planning Commission has recommended that the zoning of a house on the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and South Terrace be changed from residential to office.
In a Monday meeting, the commission voted unanimously in favor of the request from Bobby Hudgens. Hudgens wants to refurbish the house into an office and add parking in the back of the home.
Brad Hayen, the city’s Chief Building Official, noted that the property had an existing sidewalk and that some adjacent properties had previously been rezoned for office use. He also noted that the building would serve to buffer the neighborhood from the traffic noise on heavily traveled South Terrace and Interstate 75.
“I think it’s an appropriate use for an office,” Hayen said.
Board member Ann Pruett expressed some concern about businesses encroaching into long established neighborhoods along the commercial corridors of the city. Ms. Pruett said it was her opinion that businesses along South Terrace would expand and that the city needs to perhaps limit the distance in which businesses could expand south into residential areas.
Mayor Brent Lambert, the Chairman of the Planning Commission, suggested a wooden fence be built on the side of the property facing the Notre Dame residences. He also was in favor of the renovations including a screen which would conceal a dumpster that would be used at the proposed office.
Hudgens reminded board members that several houses along the Terrace have been converted to office space, including a Nationwide insurance office in the general area. The property proposed for rezoning is directly across the street from a home that now serves as offices for a marketing business.
There was no one present to oppose the rezoning.
The planning commission recommendation will now go before the East Ridge City Council for final approval.
