Nov. 20--MOULTRIE -- Zoning officials and Colquitt County Commission will have to redo a zoning variance granted Monday due to a mix-up in advertising.

A sign advertising the meetings that was placed near the location for the proposed variance in the 3000 block of Sumner Road gave inaccurate meeting dates, said John "Click" Peters, the county's planning and zoning director.

The zoning variance requested by Doyle Key was to reduce the required 200 feet of roadway frontage to 60 feet in order to allow relatives to build residences on the 28.37-acre property.

The sign gave the meeting for the Moultrie-Colquitt County Planning Commission on Nov. 16 and a hearing before the commission on Nov. 23. The planning commission meeting was held Nov. 9, while commissioners held a public hearing on Monday.

"We had a mistake on Tuesday and we're going to go back and re-run everything," Peters said.

That will mean starting the process all over from the beginning with advertising, and having new hearings in front of the planning commission and county commissioners, he said.

The planning commission will hold its hearing on the issue on Dec. 14, and the county commission will hold its hearing on Dec. 21, Peters said.

Ronald McMullen, who lives near the site of the requested variance, said that he and some neighbors would have liked to weigh in on the issue. McMullen said he has no problem with the proposed variance.

"I don't care whether he gets it or not," McMullen said. "I was denied of my right to sit down and say whether it was or not. I don't want to make no trouble, to a point. But I lost my opportunity to voice my opinion. I think the county commissioners made a bad boo-boo."

The planning commission recommended granting the variance on the property, which is currently zoned as agricultural use. Its report said that the change would minimally increase the population of the area, and that the proposed residences would not be in a flood zone and there are no wetlands on the property.

"I don't care if he goes up there and gets his property changed," McMullen said. "That's his right."

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