Historic home rezoning set for Monday



Waynesboro City Council will again entertain a request Monday to rezone the historic Jones Avenue property known as The Shadows, which would allow for events and short-term rental of a cottage on the site.

The 7-acre property listed on the U.S. Register of Historic Places is currently zoned R1 Residential Single Family. The owners have requested that the property be rezoned Residential Single Family R2.

Owners Chris Gibbie and Tim Mashburn requested the rezoning after being served with a notice Dec. 13 from the city that their marketing and use of the property was in violation of the R1 zoning ordinance.

The notice stated that the city had received “several complaints” concerning advertisement and use of the property, which are not permitted in R1 areas.

Gibbie and Mashburn hosted Christmas parties at their home Dec. 5 for the Burke County Chamber of Commerce and Dec. 12 for employees of First National Bank. On Dec. 14, they entertained at a personal Christmas party, to which next door neighbors were invited. They did not attend.

Several nearby residents expressed opposition to the proposed rezoning in a letter published Jan. 14 in The True Citizen.

On Jan 16, the city Planning Commission split 2-2 on a vote on the zoning amendment, which sent it to the full council without a recommendation.

At its regular meeting and zoning hearing Jan. 21, council members heard comments from an overflow crowd both for and against the proposed zoning change. Council members voted to table the zoning amendment to give the mayor and council members more time to meet with the property owners in order to learn more about the issues involved.

The council is not expected to allow additional public comments at its Monday meeting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.