By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Members of the Morgan County Planning Commission unanimously approved three text amendments brought to them by the county at their January meeting.
The county’s zoning ordinance now will allow farmstays, which are differentiated from bed and breakfasts (B&B) by an educational component. They also must have a minimum of five acres and no more than five guest rooms.
County Planning Director Chuck Jarrell recommended farmstays be allowed as a conditional use in the AG and AR zoning districts.
The Woodworths, who are planning a farmstay and pointed out the need for farmstay language during an October meeting of the commission, were present.
Mrs. Woodworth thanked commissioners. Mr. Woodworth said that the county’s farmstay language should be a model for others because some examples they looked at were very detailed while others were less detailed.
Language allowing pawnshops and thrift stores has been added to the county’s zoning ordinance as well. These facilities will be allowed in the C1 and C2 zoning districts.
As to paved parking exemptions, any parking area less than 5,000 square feet will not require paving. A person opening a seasonable berry farm shared with the planning office that requiring him to pave would prove cost prohibitive for him.
Jarrell said those in the office thought this amendment to be “a quite reasonable exception.”

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition