CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Real Life Church won approval Monday night to have their property rezoned to commercial so they can open a coffee shop and fitness center run by a private business.
The Montgomery County Commission approved the rezoning for about 9.91 acres of land fronting Sango Road.
The land was originally zoned agricultural, but the property will transition to C-2 commercial zoning. Real Life Church wanted to make the zoning change after the church developed a plan to build a coffee shop and fitness center that they will lease to a third party.
Questions over the zoning
Before votes were cast, a number of commissioners discussed concerns about the zone change. Commissioner Jeremiah Walker asked who’s going to pay the taxes on the space being leased out, since the church is tax-exempt but the business will have to pay taxes.
Montgomery County Assessor of Property Erinne Hester answered Walker’s question.
“If the church contracts with a third party to run a gym or coffee shop, it can play out two ways,” Hester said. “That will depend on how the contract is structured. If the contract is structured that the lessee pays all property taxes, then we go in and measure the space, we assign the physical characteristics of that property.
“We put an assessment on it just like we would a regular business or home. And then that tax bill is going to go to the owner. So, the owner would be the church, but it is the responsibly based off contract, that the for-profit entity is the one who pays the taxes.”
One example cited was the setup with the private food vendor at the county-owned Downtown Commons.
The Regional Planning Committee received concerns regarding the rezoning.
“The extra traffic this will create, plus the change to our country community is concerning,” said Brenda Spurgeon of Sango Road in an email to the RPC. “They’ve had several outdoor events in the past, creating loud volumes of noise. Sango Road residents near this church property are mostly seniors who’ve lived here for decades.”
Plan to serve community
Commissioner David Shelton detailed the planned nature of the coffee shop.
He said the pastor of the church told him this will be a business for those located in the community – individuals such as teachers at the school and those that live in surrounding neighborhoods.
Commissioner David Harper told fellow commissioners the church can move forward with the project even if they were to strike down the zone change.
“If we were to deny the AG to C-2, the church will still go forward with the coffee shop and fitness center. They would just run it themselves. The only issue is no matter what happens tonight they are going to do a coffee shop and fitness center. It’s whether they run it themselves or they contract with someone else.”
Before it was time to vote, Commissioner Joe Smith reminded his peers that they had turned down similar cases in the past when applicants have tried to transition property from agricultural to commercial property.
“About a year ago, we voted on a very similar case for a commercial property going from AG or R1 to commercial that was right off of 41-A, less than an eighth of a mile on Durham Road. And this body voted it down based off the premises that once we voted for it to be commercial, we have no say.”
The commission can only rezone property; it can’t dictate what is done with the property, including a sale years later.
Smith also pointed out that the Regional Planning Commission and RPC staff recommended against rezoning the property.
The zoning resolution passed 14-7; the no votes were Joe Smith, Rashidah Leverett, Tangi Smith, Jeremiah Walker, Walker Woodruff, Chris Rasnic and Ryan Gallant.