Clinton council approves rezoning
Sidewalk project to start in January
New multifamily housing may be coming to two different areas of Clinton.
The City Council voted last week to rezone the 700 and 900 blocks of South Charles G. Seivers Boulevard from business to residential zoning, on second and final reading.
Vice Mayor Larry Gann, who is also on the Planning Commission, said he knew the new developments on these two blocks would be multifamily housing, but did not know the price range.
Sidewalks
The city continues to get ready for replacing sewers and putting in newer, wider sidewalks, streetscapes and landscaping in the downtown area, including Market Street.
City Manager Roger Houck said, weather permitting, utility work will begin Jan. 22, with sidewalk construction starting “hopefully” by March.
He said the company working on the project will set up an office downtown and put its equipment in the cul-de-sac on Cullom Street.
The city is paying for the project with a Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the state of Tennessee.
Related to that project, the City Council hired Cannon & Cannon Inc. for construction engineering and inspection services for $477,450.
As with everything else on the project however, the state will cover 80% of the costs.
Group home?
Houck, in response to a question, gave an update on a group home near Clinton Elementary School about which people had complained.
“Group homes are really not permitted, but they’re not, not permitted either,” Houck said of the area’s zoning code, which does not mention them one way or the other.
However, he said that the city attorney had said it was “within the general character” of the zone and the city couldn’t go back and rezone it now.
He also said the people at the group home, which is part of the New Hope Healthcare Institute, aren’t coming out of prison, but rather addiction-rehabilitation programs.
The group home, he said, was properly called an “independent-living facility.”
Pool
Jason Brown, park and recreation director told the council that work is progessing on the new swimming pool.
“All the concrete, I think has been poured around the splash pad,” he said. “We’re getting there.”
Cookie Crawl
Roberta Katine, president of the Historic Downtown Clinton Merchants Association, thanked the city, including the Police Department, for helping to create a successful Holiday Market and Cookie Crawl event on Dec. 18.
“It was just superb,” she said of the event.
“We anticipated a good day, but it turned out bigger than we thought,” she said later.
Appointments
The council reappointed Larry Gann as vice mayor. It also made several other appointments:
• Art Miller, Brian Hatmaker, and Steve Combs to the Regional Planning Commission, replacing John Stair, Larry Gann and Johnafred Thomas.
• Sonja Dye replaced Lanaka Bounds on the Community Action Commission.
• Councilwoman Wendy Maness joined the Tree Advisory Board.
• Matt Foster was appointed to the Green McAdoo Board.
