LaGRANGE – On Tuesday, the Troup County Board of Commissioners approved an application for a residential occupational business at 104 Linda Lane.

Residential occupational business licenses do not usually come before the board, but it was necessary for the board to review this particular application because woodworking and cabinet making are not on the official home occupation list and the applicant had requested for a family member – his son – who did not live in his home to be able to work with him.

The one-acre property – and the land surrounding it – are all single family homes, so the business will be required to follow residential home occupations standards which means it will be required to take place in a 768 square foot utility shed already on the property with a requirement to move if the business expands, not produce noise or odors, not have more than one pick up or delivery a day and follow other requirements that aim to maintain peace within the residential area.

“It is a very small shop, and it is mostly just to get my son employed and to try to crank the business up a little bit,” said Applicant William Gray. “If it does (crank up), we would definitely move anyway… This was just an opportunity to take what I’ve been doing for a hobby for a good while and turn it into something that my son could (use to) produce a living. So, that is really where we are with it. We are just trying to get started with it. We’re not trying to produce a huge manufacturing facility in the backyard. That’s not our purpose.”

A sign was placed in front of the property where Gray lives and hopes to work and letters were sent out to residents with property adjacent to Gray’s property back in November informing them of the possible change. The board of zoning unanimously approved the permit.

“We approve one or two (residential occupational business licenses) a week administratively,” said County Engineer James Emery. “That’s how many we get – we get one or two a week – and they are pretty clear cut, pretty simple, right in our ordinance. This is only the third one that has come before (the commission) since I’ve been here – where they are a little more complicated and don’t fit in perfectly.”

The commission also had first readings on three properties to “cleaning up zoning” by rezoning 3152 West Point Road, 3140 West Point Road and 3099 Roanoke Road from residential to commercial at the meeting.  All three properties had already been used for commercial purposes for decades, so the zoning change will not affect actual usage.

The Troup County Commission is scheduled to meet again on Jan. 3 at 9 a.m. at 100 Ridley Ave.

Reach Alicia B. Hill at alicia.hill@lagrangenews.com at 706-884-7311, Ext. 2154.