Dresden BZA votes to allow home business to remain

Story by Senior Investigative Reporter Shannon Taylor

At the last Dresden city board meeting, Alderman Anderson spoke on an area where he lives that has been approved by the board of zoning appeals. He said that a business was planning to be operated in an R-1 District. “It’s a business being put in to run a hair salon and it fronts Anderson Lane there across from the bank which is in R-1.” Anderson said he did some research on zoning laws and a hair salon is not permissible. Anderson thinks that the board of zoning appeal approved in error issuing that permit.

City attorney Beau Pemberton said he also researched it and it appeared an error was made and his suggestion was that the board remand it back to the zoning appeals for them to review and share their findings. A motion was made by Anderson to do that and it was approved unanimously.

The board of zoning appeals (BZA) met Oct. 24 to discuss the matter and voted unanimously to leave it as it was. The Press spoke with the owner of the hair salon, Keisha Roberts, who told us that she had made sure to follow everything exactly as she was supposed to and that she had spent a lot of money getting everything set up. She stated that she was extremely worried that the issue was being re-visited after she was already approved previously to start construction for her home-based business.

The analysis of the situation from the community planner of Northwest Tennessee Development District, Donny Bunton, was that “It appears that the type of “Use Permissible on Appeal” being requested by Roberts was a “Home Occupation.” Section 11-601 © allows home occupations in R-1 districts upon approval by the BZA, if specified criteria are met. In this case most of the criteria would clearly be met, with a few of the criteria probably not being met, or left to one’s judgment.”

After going over the analysis from Bunton, board members Ralph Cobb and Kory Green discussed the matter. Green stated that the only concern the board had when they initially approved it was the traffic flow to the business. “It was assured that the traffic would be one customer at a time and one customer only at a time, so that’s the reason I made the proposal to go forward with it.”

Green further stated that Dresden needs businesses. “We’re at a time now where we’re trying to get as much business as we can to come back-whether it’s a private home business or a city business-that’s our whole goal here.”

Cobb further stated that after he looked at the analysis that the bank would actually have a lot more traffic than Roberts home-based business would. “I think this is good to go and I want to see businesses thrive and do well and I don’t think we need to be a hinderance.”

Roberts stated that eventually she would like this to be a full-time home-based business even though right now it’s only part-time, but that it would still be only by appointment only. She also stated that the contractors had made all necessary repairs that the board requested initially and that contractors were currently wrapping all of that up.

Roberts also added that, “there was also another business on my street-the local cookie company-and she has more traffic than I’ll have and she’s right across the street from Mr. Gwin Anderson.”

Green said, that in his opinion, “where we’re at now, since the tornado, we’re trying to get businesses to start back, and she has already spent money and out financial money that she has spent to start this project since we last met.”

The motion to leave it like it was made by Cobb and seconded by Green. It passed unanimously.

Roberts told the Press after that she was happy and relieved with the decision made by the board.