Tuesday, May 19, 2015 1:37 pm

MIKE WEST
Courier Editor

Will the vote be "yea" or "nay" when the question of zoning goes before the Cannon County Commission next month.

Boyd Barker, chairman of the Cannon County Planning Commission, asked County Commissioners to take up the issue at their next meeting in June.
"All I'm asking is for guidance on whether or not we need to pursue this." Barker said.

The six-person Planning Commission has been researching and discussing the issue for years since its creation 26 years ago.

"I'm not asking for guidance tonight," Barker said during the May 14 County Commission meeting. "I'm asking you to bring it back up at your next meeting in June and give the Planning Commission some direction."

Zoning might be a divisive issue to some, but Commissioner Richie Hunter said a goodly number of residents keep asking how Woodbury got a rock crusher stuck in the middle of town.

While the Town of Woodbury acted to prevent a similar situation in the future, Cannon County does not currently have that option.
A proposed Cannon County zoning measure has been drafted by the Planning Commission, which has been reviewing the plan for the last several months. The plan would establish zoning districts within the county which would include different residental, commercial, industrial and agricultural zones.

County Executive Mike Gannon asked Cannon Commissioners to consider another future issue ... the need for expansion and upgrading of facilities at the Cannon County Health Department.

Gannon asked Commissioners to go on record in support of a grant which would build a new, 5,000 square foot health department building. The $750,000 grant would cover all of the cost except for the land.

"We need to think about the future," Gannon said. "It is a free building. This is a once in a lifetime grant."

The plan would double the number of clinic rooms and would update all the equipment at the Cannon County Health Department, he continued. The project is being supported by the Upper Cumberland Regional Health Department. "We should be honored by that support," Gannon said.

All that is required at this point, is for the County Commission to go on record to be obligated to buy the land, he continued.

"If we don't get the grant are we going to have to build this building," asked Commissioner Russell Reed.

No, of course not, answered Gannon.

Commissioner Hunter asked "where can you get land that cheap?"

Gannon said he has already approached Stones River Hospital about the availablity of land adjacent to the new Cannon County Emergency Medical Service building. The hospital has agreed to make 1 1/2 acres available at cost.

Following more discussion, Commissioner Adam Melton moved that the Commission go on record in favor of the grant. His motion passed by acclamation.