By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Jack Manases, with Manases Enterprises, went before the Great Bend Planning Commission and Great Bend City Council requesting to rezone real estate at 1620 Baker Avenue. Manases purchased the R-2 (two-family) property and wants to rezone the lot to C-2 (general commercial) to park his trailers and equipment for his renovation and landscaping business.
The lot is only 37.5’ wide. Great Bend Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said with required setbacks, the width of a structure could only be 12.5’, and city staff recommended to reject the rezoning request.
"City staff recommended denial of the request due to spot zoning and residential zoning in the immediate vicinity of the subject property," said Burns. "If it is denied it will continue to be a vacant lot because of the size."
Manases plans to put an 8’ tall, screened fence around the property.
The Planning Commission rejected the city’s recommendation and approved the rezoning request stating that it would be the only practical use of the property due to being unbuildable. Councilmember Jolene Biggs and the rest of the council voted to send the request back to the Planning Commission for reconsideration.
"If this gets moved to the commercial zoning and the gentleman sells the property, per se...somebody could put in a welding shop and there is nothing there that the neighbors could do," said Biggs. "Once you've moved it into commercial, you don't have any control on what is going to go there...and here we are in a residential area."
The neighbor to the south of the Baker Avenue property had not inquired about buying the lot due to it being a rental.