The Rockdale City Council rejected Larry Bevin’s request for a zoning change for a proposed veterans’ center in a neighborhood of single-family homes at Monday night’s meeting in City Hall.
The bid failed on its first reading before the council.
Last month the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend the council deny Blevin’s request to turn the former Renaissance Villa into a help center for U.S. military veterans.
During a public hearing on the request before the meeting three people spoke in opposition to the center in their neighborhood.
“I sure hope y’all don’t pass this thing. He can bring anybody in there. He has no medical personnel, no professional staff. It is a joke,” said Doug Blackstock who lives in the neighborhood of the building in question.
“He is just after the land,” Blackstock said. “If he has a vision to help people, he’s going about it in the wrong place.”
He also mentioned that parking would be a problem as there are only seven parking spaces on the property which is catty-cornered from his home.
Chris Scheffel who is another resident who lives near the building that once housed the elder care center on Dyer Street also told the council of his opposition to the plan.
“The rezoning of one spot in your zoning has legal precedence,” he told the members of the council. “It is an illegal property within the city of Rockdale.”
“I am here to ask you to vote no on this request,” he said.
Cheryl Blackstone also spoke before council.
“I have five grandkids,” she said, adding that she did not want possible ex-convicts or unstable veterans living across the street from her and “putting my grandkids in jeopardy.”
She mentioned that she lives in the area of three Rockdale Independent School District schools. “Other kids walk by my house,”
“Other kids walk by my house,” she said.
She was also concerned about a crowding situation within the center and the lack of personal bathrooms and the small rooms in the building.
“It is my safety. That is what it all boils down to,” she said.
The council also voted to reappoint Leslie Davidson and John Williams to the P&Z commission.
Councilman Jason Barcak was appointed to the commission at last night’s meeting. Barcak had previously been serving as the council’s liaison to the commission so with the opening on the commission the council decided to make him a voting member.
The council went into executives session at 6:50 p.m. to discuss the pending lawsuit filed by Kara Clore, the former executive director of the Municipal Development District.
The council returned to open session but quickly adjourned with no action taken on suit pending in federal court.
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