MOULTRIE, Ga. — It’s been many years since Moultrie’s only bowling alley closed, but a zoning decision that city council made Tuesday night helps move a developer closer to building a new one.

It was one of three land-related issues decided by the council at Tuesday’s meeting.

Scotty Pierce asked the council to rezone 0.33 acres at 102 WMTM Road from R-3 (Multi Family Residential District) to C-3 (Commercial District), but his request met with some opposition from a neighbor.

The property is located just off Quitman Highway, behind the new Marco’s Pizza restaurant. It’s bordered to the south and west by commercial properties and to the north and east by other residences, according to Daniel Parrish, city planning director.

Parrish said Pierce proposes to put in a bowling alley, but his architect is still tweaking the exact plans.

The neighbor at 103 WMTM Road, Sandra Cobb, said she’d had a confrontation with Pierce in the past when he put a pile of dirt on his property that caused rainwater to flood her yard. She said Pierce wouldn’t do anything about the dirt, she didn’t have the resources to fight him and she still has problems with runoff because of it.

Marco’s Pizza has a retention pond to handle runoff, and Parrish said plans call for that pond to be enlarged to draw water from the bowling alley property when it’s built. Therefore, City Councilman Daniel Dunn said, Pierce’s construction might actually help Cobb’s water problem.

Cobb also expressed concern for the safety of her hearing-impaired grandson if the bowling alley increases traffic in the area.

Parrish said all commercial properties are required to have a 6-foot fence and a 20-foot buffer of vegetation between them and adjacent residential property.

Cobb also raised other issues in her neighborhood, including conditions on Doug Turner Drive and Southeast Central Avenue, short streets that intersect WMTM Road. She said residents there erect a tarpaulin, put a door in it and live in it.

Pierce spoke graciously of Cobb’s right to speak her mind in opposition to his project, then agreed with her description of the problems down the street. He said the residents there are “very transitional.”

“We’ve got people coming in doing just what she said,” he told the council, “and we never see them again.”

He also told the council that WMTM Road needs paving.

Dunn moved to approve the rezoning application, seconded by Councilman Cecil Barber. The council approved it 4-2. In opposition were Councilwomen Susie Magwood-Thomas and Lisa Clark Hill. Hill told the council she wasn’t opposed to the rezoning, but she thought the issue should be tabled while the council investigated the conditions that Cobb described.

City Manager Pete Dillard told Cobb that he would visit the area she described to see what the city’s code enforcement and public works departments could do to make it better.

‘Island’ leaves the city

Of the other two land issues addressed by city council, one was a de-annexation and the other was rezoning of a large tract of property. Attorney John Carlton represented the landowner seeking de-annexation, and as he coincidentally was involved in the deal for the property seeking rezoning, he offered to answer questions on it too.

Jerod Baker Sr, owner of 5.86 acres on Industrial Drive and Highway 37 East, sought to take the property out of the city limits.

Parrish said that Baker had sought annexation back in 2003, but to make it happen the city had to annex Industrial Drive — just the street, not any of the properties on it. On the city map, the property shows as an “island,” linked to the rest of the city by a thin line along Industrial Drive.

“It’s sitting out there like a giant fly swatter,” said Carlton, Baker’s attorney.

Parrish speculated that Baker had intended to build a business that would sell alcohol — which in 2003 was legal in Moultrie but not in the county outside the city limits. That business never came to fruition and the lot is still vacant; it’s often the site of a vegetable stand or yard sale.

Meanwhile, Carlton said, the lot has no access to city water, sewer or electricity, and if the fire department had to respond there, they’d have to bring their own water in a tanker truck because there are no nearby fire hydrants.

Council approved the de-annexation unanimously, although some councilmen expressed reluctance.

Large site rezoned for unnamed commercial interest

In the second zoning issue of the evening, city council approved the rezoning of 128.79 acres on Tallokas Road from R1-B (Single Family Residential District) to C-1 (Neighborhood Business District).

“This property went through several different hands trying to be a residential property and did not succeed at any of those attempts,” Parrish told the council. “They [the current owners] have another idea.”

The property is owned by Jeter Partners LLC, but neither Jimmy nor Dan Jeter was at the meeting. Carlton said he was also involved in the deal the Jeters are making with the property, and he offered to answer any questions from the council that he could.

So, naturally, a councilperson asked what the Jeters planned to do with the property … and Carlton declined to answer, citing a confidentiality agreement binding on all parties to the deal.

He did say the firm the Jeters are negotiating with hopes to make an announcement within a month or so.

In other action

In other action Tuesday, city council:

• Approved a license to sell beer, wine and liquor for off-premises consumption to John Turner, owner of Tommy’s Package, 316 10th St. S.E.

• Heard from Jeron Bridges, of Second Street Northwest, who said garbage pick-up in his neighborhood is significantly later than it used to be. While pickup is still the same day as before, it went from around 8 a.m. to early afternoon without any notice. Council told him the garbage pick-up routes have been tweaked since roll-out containers were introduced last November, so that’s changed the time the truck is in any given neighborhood. Carts are supposed to be put beside the road by 6 p.m. the night before pick-up and removed by 6 p.m. the day of pick-up; so long as the pick-up occurs between those two times, council indicated they didn’t see a problem.