Signal Mountain held a public hearing
Monday evening on a proposal to allow liquor stores in the town’s highway commercial districts – and nobody came.
Not a single person, for or against, stood to speak when Mayor Dick Gee announced that the public hearing had begun. Minutes later, Mayor Gee announced that the public hearing was over.
Three council members – the mayor, Bob Spalding and Bill Wallace – then voted to approve the measure.
Councilman Bill Lusk abstained, and Councilman Chris Howley was not present.
Before the vote, town manager Boyd Veal said Monday’s action will correct a conflict between the town’s alcoholic beverages code and its zoning ordinance.
In the alcoholic beverages code, he noted, liquor stores are restricted to highway commercial areas and planned commerce center zones. The town’s zoning ordinance, however, did not include liquor stores as one of the permitted uses within highway commercial areas.
To correct that oversight, he added, Signal’s planning commission recommended that the zoning ordinance be amended to allow such use.