Chris Whitfield/Daily Citizen-NewsVarnell City Council member Jan Pourquoi asks a question of Whitfield County attorney Robert Smalley during a meeting of the Dalton-Whitfield County Planning Commission.

DALTON, Ga. — Alpesh Patel declined to comment as he left a meeting of the Dalton-Whitfield County Planning Commission Monday night, but his face clearly reflected his concern and disappointment.

Patel, owner of the Dalton Cricket Grounds in Varnell, had just watched the commission vote 4-0 to recommend denying him a special use permit to operate an athletic field on the 21.8-acre site at 1140 Tunnel Hill Varnell Road. Chairman Todd Gavin was absent from the meeting, and Vice Chairman Jim Lidderdale only votes to break a tie when presiding over a meeting.

And while the Varnell City Council will have the final say, the commission’s recommendation was clearly a setback.

About 30 people attended the meeting. While four people spoke against the project, Patel was the only person to speak in favor of the cricket grounds.

During the meeting, Patel spoke of his love for cricket, a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 that is popular in many parts of the world including the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and southern Africa. And he told planning commission members how there are no other local venues to play the game and that he hosts tournaments at the site.

The cricket grounds opened for play in April. But at a May meeting of the Varnell City Council, several residents of a subdivision next to the cricket grounds expressed concerns about its impact on traffic and noise.

At that meeting, Whitfield County Zoning Administrator Jean Garland said the site of the cricket grounds is zoned residential. When Patel applied for a land disturbance permit to clear the property he signed an agreement that it would only be used by his family and that he would apply for a special use permit if he wanted to open it to public use. Council members voted to declare the games being played on the grounds to be a public use. But they also voted to allow the games to continue until the council reached a decision on the permit.

On Monday, several people who live near the cricket grounds once again expressed their concerns.

“I’ve lived in my house for 21 years. I moved there because it was a quiet, peaceful neighborhood,” said George Gazaway Jr. “If I’d wanted to live next to a recreation center, I would have bought a house next to a recreation center.”

Kathy Williams said her concerns are not just theoretical. She said there have been problems since the cricket grounds opened.

“There’s trash all over my property. They leave trash on the ground, and it blows on to my property,” she said. “There’s cars parking in front of my property. They’ve parked in front of my driveway, and I’ve had to go find someone to move their vehicle so I can get out.”

Varnell City Council member Jan Pourquoi asked if the special use permit would remain with the property if Patel sold it. Whitfield County attorney Robert Smalley said it would.

In the end, commission members voted to recommend against the special use permit.

“Based on what we heard tonight, this it is being used by the public, for tournaments and such, not just by friends and family,” said commission member Deanna Mathis.

Planning commission members could have recommended granting the special use permit but with restrictions.

“He wants to use the property for people to come here and play tournaments. If we’d put restrictions on parking or people or things like that, I don’t think it would have satisfied Mr. Patel or allowed him to do the things we wants to do,” she said.

Varnell City Manager Mike Brown said council members expect to vote on the permit at their Tuesday, July 18, meeting.

Members of the Dalton-Whitfield County Planning Commission are Scott DeLay, Todd Gavin (chairman), Jim Lidderdale (vice chairman), Pat McCoy, Deanna Mathis and Tom Minor. Gavin was absent for Monday night’s public hearing and for the vote on the Dalton Cricket Grounds special use permit.