A re-zoning application was denied by the Jefferson Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday.

The six-member appointed commission was considering an application for Midwest Wellness and Recovery for a property, located at 1106 South Elm Street, that they had purchased two years ago that is zoned as single family residential. The current building is a former church and the business didn’t have a clear plan of how to utilize the facility, but that all of their options fit the needs of having the property re-zoned to multi-family residential.

Midwest Wellness Co-Owners Nikki Uebel and Megan Waters talked about their business of helping individuals who have addictions and who want to seek treatment on a voluntary basis. They told the commission that 15 of their 16 staff live within Greene County and are board certified positions with professional educational or training backgrounds. They felt their business would fit in well with the neighborhood and it would have the look and feel of a residential home. 

Building Official Chad Stevens mentioned to Midwest Wellness to get support from the surrounding neighbors and they didn’t get that support. One of the neighbors voiced several concerns, with one of those being a commercial business being located next to them and in a residential area. 

The commission considered three aspects to allow for “spot-zoning” as the surrounding properties are zoned as single family residential. Additionally, there is condominium that is on one side of a single family property that is also zoned as multi-family residential. The three criteria included a public reason, a reasonable basis to re-zone and does the proposed property fit within the city’s comprehensive plan? 

The commission felt that those criteria were not met when only considering the re-zoning application and the chair, Mike Palmer, said some of the comments from the commission were that they weren’t against what Midwest Wellness and Recovery was about as a company, but that they didn’t agree with the location that was selected for spot-zoning. 

City Attorney David Morain said the recommendation for denial will be formally presented to the City Council for a final decision. If the topic is approved by the Council to move forward, the matter would then come before the Board of Adjustment for a variance.