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After an hourlong hearing, a neighbor-generated petition and a two-day wait, four Sedalia property owners had their rezoning request granted.

In its April 6 meeting, the Sedalia Town Council voted 3-2 in favor of rezoning a portion of a 5.79-acre-tract of land from residential single family and agricultural to conditional use limited business.
Neighbors presented a petition protesting the rezoning at the meeting.

The petition turned out to be invalid because it was not turned in on time.

“The state law requires that a petition has to be delivered two business days prior to the meeting date,” Mayor Howard J. Morgan explained when he alerted the rest of the council by e-mail late Tuesday night.

Had the petition been valid, the council would have had to vote 4-1 for the rezoning request to pass. Otherwise, only a simple majority of 3-2 was required.

The petition was presented by one of the property’s neighbors, Tom Ferguson .

“This has always been a residential community,” he told the council. “I’d like to see the town council preserve the residential- community feel.”

Bobby Hancock , one of the property owners who requested the rezoning, said they are pleased with the outcome.

“We’re not here to make waves,” he said late last week.

“We are more than willing to abide by the guidelines (the council) set.”

Those guidelines include having all business operations contained inside the store, business hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and prohibiting specific businesses from operating in the space.

“We’re more than willing to work to make sure we don’t put something up there that’s going to cause a problem,” Hancock said in the meeting.

Hancock; his wife, Lorrie ; and her sister and brother-in-law, Ricky V. and Donna G. Cauthren, own the Burlington Road property.

The group requested the property be rezoned to accommodate a thrift shop owned by Betty Foust.

“I think this is going to be a benefit to the neighborhood, having them there,” Hancock said.

Ferguson disagrees.

“This is the start of something tragic,” Ferguson said. “If the council approves this for one, they should be willing to approve it for everyone else.”

That may result in the neighborhood turning into store fronts, he said.
“I have nothing against the Fousts; I wish them well,” he said. “What I’m against is turning a residential home into a business.”

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com.