FAIRHOPE, Ala. — On Monday, the Fairhope Planning and Zoning Commission will consider a request during a pubic hearing to rezone four parcels of property on the east side of Greeno Road north of Volanta Avenue from residential designations to B-4 business districts.

The four property owners filed jointly and are represented by Dennis Frodsham of Coldwell Banker Reehl Properties Inc., who is expected to make a presentation in favor of the proposal, as are the individual property owners.

“The property is impossible to sell now,” Frodsham said. “This will allow the property to be sold. This is not a development proposal.”

Frodsham said the application seeks to minimize any change in zoning that would negatively affect the area by proposing a number of self-imposed restrictions on how the properties could be developed, such as the size of buildings to be located there.

The city’s planning department has prepared a “staff interpretation” memorandum recommending that the planning commission deny the applicant’s request for the zoning change. The memo refers to a 2001 application by one of the property owner’s for a zoning change from residential to a planned use development district that was denied at that time. The memo states the planning department recommended denial due to the proposal not being in compliance with the city’s Comprehensive Plan for land use.

“In 2001, the Planning Commission spoke clearly with the action to recommend denial of a similar request,” the July 2008 planning department memo states. “The surrounding land uses and zoning have not changed since 2001. The goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan have not changed, in fact, these goals and objectives were reaffirmed by a unanimous vote from the Planning Commission and City Council in 2006. Based on all of these issues, the planning staff recommends the Planning Commission deny the applicant’s request to rezone from R-4 and R-1 to B-4.”

Frodsham said the property owners applied jointly with the self-imposed restrictions to allay concerns expressed in earlier informal reviews of the proposed changes that any zoning changes in the area from residential to business could lead to a “domino effect” of zoning changes along Greeno Road.

The owners of the parcel that applied for the zoning change in 2001 wrote a May 22, 2008, letter to the commission, summarizing the history of their 23-year-long ownership of the property, and the difficulty they have had in selling the property as residential.

“We could cite a litany of reasons why we have been disenfranchised, but we choose to move forward and present to you a proposal that puts the property to ‘its highest and best use,’ incorporates comfortably into the (Comprehensive) Plan, improves the unofficial front door to Fairhope, does not disadvantage Colonial Acres and compliments the city’s improvements to Volanta Park,” the letter written by Fred and Kris Hayek states. “Last, as a member of the steering committee of the (Comprehensive) Plan, we recognize that (it) provides the flexibility ‘to fix’ this problem if there is the political will to do so.”

The letter referred to two contracts for sale of the property in 2001 and 2007 that had been “pulled because (of), in our view, the political atmosphere surrounding what has been called the Greeno Road Corridor problem and The (Dyas) Triangle.”

The owners of one of the other parcels wrote a May 23 letter to the commission and City Council, stating their family has lived on the property for many years,” before Greeno Road was paved.”

“As heir(s) to the parcel we currently own, we have experienced firsthand the deterioration of our quality of life which has only gotten worse in recent years,” wrote Joe and Louise Verheostra. “We have tried to sell our property as residential but with no success. It is just not a suitable place to live anymore, with traffic, noise and lack of any neighborhood qualities. The zoning we are seeking would not create any hardship on anyone. We sincerely believe that an office park type development would add something nice along this major highway corridor into the city. We respectfully ask that you give us relief from our zoning nightmare and approve this request so that we can move forward with our lives and find suitable housing elsewhere in the city.”

A petition with 30 signatures has been submitted to the planning department by residents of Colonial Acres subdivision opposing the proposed zoning change.

“We have enough disturbances to our area with the redirection of outgoing traffic on (County Road) 104,” the petition states. “Rezoning within the City of Fairhope needs to be within the parameters of the Fairhope Comprehensive Plan. Furthermore. we believe that commercialization on the east side compromises the integrity of our neighborhood as it opens the possibility of commercialization of the residential housing in Colonial Acres on the west side of (U.S.) 98.”

The commission’s decision regarding the proposed zoning change is advisory in nature, with the City Council making final decisions in zoning cases.

The Fairhope Planning and Zoning Commission will meet to consider the proposal and other items on its agenda starting at 5 p.m., Monday, July 7, in City Council chambers in City Hall.