It was standing

room only at the Union City Council Meeting Tuesday night. Residents from

the Valley Lakes subdivision and other concerned citizens packed the room

to voice their opposition to a rezoning request, a text amendment to include

group day care homes as a permitted use for home occupations and a cut

in recreation services. Many of the residents showed a keen interest in

other business on the agenda, commenting throughout the evening on various

proposed items.

Mayor Moore

read a prepared statement regarding a tax increase to the City's tax digest.

It is required that when a city or county has an increase in their tax

digest the tax payers must be notified via public hearings if there is

not a roll back in assessed taxes.

Union City

had an increase of $17,543,543 representing 7 percent of the assessed

value on the total increase in the digest. According to the mayor, the

increase is due to growth in the city and reassessment by the county of

property in the city.

Due to the

cost of providing services to the citizens of the city, the city's millage

rate for 2002 will remain at 7.5 mills. There will not be a tax increase

in the millage rate this year.

City Manager

Sonya Carter gave an overview of the proposed 2002-03 budget. The completed

budget will be presented at the August council meeting. A cut in recreation

drew pointed comments from some in the audience. Mayor Moore stood his

ground, citing a lack of support from the public for programs. He noted

that other than one program other than those provided for seniors has

more than four in attendance.

The council

voted to replace the CUP (Community Unit Development) zoning category

with a new PUD (Planned Unit Development) zoning. A moratorium has been

in effect for CUP zoning for the past nine months. The PUD allows for

larger acreage, includes a greenspace requirement and other changes.

Chinnery Milam

requested a text amendment which would allow group day care homes to be

permitted as a use for home occupations. Ms. Milam is currently operating

a day care in her home and hoped to be able to increase the number of

children she cared for. Current requirements permit a maximum of six children

to be cared for in a home, the amendment would have increased the number

allowed to increase to up to 18. Although supportive of Ms. Milam, after

much discussion the Council voted to deny the change based on potential

problems from increased traffic in residential areas.

A text amendment

was approved to the Zoning Ordinance to include full-service dry cleaners

as a permitted use in neighborhood commercial zones, Sections 6 - 10.

A request to

rezone property at 5015 Cottage Grove Place from Residential Single Family

R-4 to Residential Single Family R-6 resulted in a lengthy debate between

Council, individuals in opposition and the property owners. Surrounding

neighbors were concerned about the size of the lots and homes. The Council

voted to approve the request to subdivide the property into four lots

and to change the zoning.

The request

which drew neighbors from the Valley Lakes subdivision was ultimately

referred