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Palmetto

will soon have a new church.

vote, the City Council rezoned an eight-acre tract Monday night to allow

the J.S. Hammonds Missionary Baptist Church to build a sanctuary.

The new church

is at the intersection of Fayetteville Road and Phillips Road. City

planner Chris Venice said any churches must be on either arterial or

collector roads.

Both roads

are arterials and would provide enough parking for the church.

Venice added

the rezoning request from C-1 (community commercial) and L-1 (limited

use) to C3 (general commercial district conditional) is in keeping with

the land use plan, which calls for commercial development on the site.

The planner

said the church would not cause an excessive or burdensome use of any

existing utilities or schools and recommended approving the petition.

In other

news, the council approved a $50,000 contract between the city and the

state Department of Human Resources to provide transportation for the

city's senior citizens.

Last year,

the transportation was provided by a private company that is no longer

in business. The city's staff, including City Administrator Bill Shell

recommended accepting the contract from DHR.