Cloverdale businesses get town permission to operate

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Nearly one month after tabling both, the Cloverdale Plan Commission has voted in favor of granting special exceptions to two aspiring town businesses.

Both Trivett's Auto Service, 3283 E. SR 42, and Discount Tire, 1 W. Stardust Rd., received permission from the board to continue doing business in Cloverdale.

Trivett's Auto Service owner Rob Trivett had approached the board in August hoping to receive a special exception to operate a wrecker service within the limits of Cloverdale to bring vehicles to his shop in order to be repaired. However, the exception was tabled.

On Thursday, plan commission president Jerry Acrea asked Trivett if anything had changed since the August meeting, to which Trivett responded no.

Acrea asked the three board members at Thursday's meeting if they wanted to discuss the issue.

Board member John Davis asked Trivett why he attempted to "circumvent the (plan commission) and go straight to the town board?"

"I feel like I've done everything you've asked me," Trivett responded.

Acrea explained to Trivett that the town board would have told him to take the issue back to the plan commission, and multiple board members expressed concern for the issue.

"We're either going to vote it in or vote it out," Acrea said.

Local resident Jim Steele, who owns and operates Steele's Auto in Cloverdale, addressed the board Thursday, saying he believed a town ordinance pointed out that a variance would be asked for in this case as opposed to a special exception.

After a short recess, where Acrea looked over information with board attorney Karen Temple, the president determined that a special exception was the correct step to take in this instance and that variances only were needed when dealing with property issues.

"That's what we've done in the past," Acrea said.

Board member Larry Fidler made the motion to accept the special exception, with Mike Gray making the second. The board voted unanimously on the issue.

Discount Tire owner and operator Jeff Everman was up next.

Again, Acrea asked if anything had changed since his last appearance, and Everman said no.

Everman told the board Thursday he had started cleaning up the property, which the board asked him to do in August.

However, Davis said he had driven by the area recently and was concerned about the amount of tires.

"We've actually cleaned up a lot," Everman responded, saying he had cleaned out nearly 600 tires since the August meeting.

Everman said he had two trailers with tires on the property and had recently gotten rid of one of the trailers. He told the board it may appear there were still many tires and that nothing had been worked on, but several tires had been removed from the area.

Still, Davis expressed concern with the amount of tires on the property, saying they were a fire hazard.

Another issue regarding the property was a fence that Everman said he planned to construct around the property.

Acrea asked if the fence could be constructed in 30 days of granting the exception. Everman said it could, but he had made some slight changes to the original plans, asking that one side of the fence be 8-feet high as opposed to 6-feet high on all sides.

Davis expressed concern regarding the changes, pointing out to Everman that he had said earlier in the evening that no changes had been made.

Still, the board set up a motion to approve the exception, pending Everman clean up the area, construct the fence and move all tires into the enclosed building, in addition to maintaining his parking lot with a dust retardant if needed, by 90 days from Thursday.

Gray made the motion with Fidler giving the second. The board voted unanimously to accept the exception, but explained to Everman that if any of the points of interest were not completed within 90 days, the exception would be revoked.

Board member Mark Cassida was not at Thursday's meeting.

The Board of Zoning Appeals met following the plan commission, voting unanimously on both special exception issues.

Both boards meet at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at Town Hall. The next meeting date is scheduled for Oct. 5.

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