The Sweetwater Regional Planning Commission met briefly Monday night for the regular monthly workshop.

Planning and Code Enforcement Officer Scott Wilson told planning commissioners that Bill Howe has presented a preliminary plan for a 3,300-square-foot covered-storage building behind the car wash on East North Street (Sweetwater-Vonore Road).

Wilson said he reminded Howe the city has passed new regulations that would allow for uncovered storage lots in C-4 and M-1 zoned areas as long as the developer puts up 6-foot high opaque fencing and meets other requirements.
Wilson said he is not sure now if Howe will present a proposal for the covered storage building or an open storage lot.

The city's planning and code enforcement officer told planners that Willow Creek developer Jeff Darragh wants to move forward with building 18 tri-plex units in Willow Creek.
According to Wilson, each of the 18 buildings will have three 1,300 to 1,500 square-foot units. Wilson said the buildings will stand about 10 feet from each other. That closeness, however, concerned Planning Commissioners Nancy Baker and Diana Cordell who worried that a fire would spread very rapidly between the buildings.

Wilson assured them the buildings would meet fire code requirements and the close distance between them is well within the Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) guidelines established for Willow Creek.

Wilson also said he would discuss the plans with state fire inspectors.
As the meeting closed, Wilson told the Planning Commission some developers were looking at Sweetwater as a possible site for around 60 tax-credit apartment units.

According to Wilson, there is no guarantee the apartments would be built in Sweetwater, as there are federal government hoops to jump through before they could ever be constructed.
The Planning Commission normally meets in a non-voting workshop at 5 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at City Hall. The regular voting meeting is the third Monday of the month at 6 p.m.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101