GATESVILLE – A landowner’s request to rezone his property from A1 (Agricultural) to I1 (Industrial) bears further study.

At their meeting here last week, the Gates County Board of Commissioners agreed to table George Lang’s request after hearing from the public on the issue.

Joe Greene, speaking on behalf of the Gates County Planning Board, said that entity had approved the request by a 4-0 vote at their February meeting. Greene said the property is located on US 158 at Cotton Gin Road and is approximately 165 acres in size.

There was no mention of what the property would be used for if the commissioners approved the request.

During an advertised public hearing on the issue, Dan Lang, the brother of the property owner, said there was some misunderstanding on what portion of the land was to be rezoned.

“They only want that part west of Cotton Gin Road, not the cleared land,” Dan Lang said. “I personally do not want that field rezoned. I put in a lot of sweat there; I plowed that field with a mule and later with a tractor. It joins my land and my daughter’s land and we’re both opposed to (rezoning) the cleared land. We have no objections to the land west of Cotton Gin Road.”

Commission Chairman Graham Twine said, “We’ll talk to George about this before we make a final decision.”

“It’s clear we have some new developments,” said Commissioner Jack Owens. “Dan being the neighbor to the property and George being his brother, we definitely need to have some clarification before we take a vote.”

Planning Board member Chuck Brothers said he was recently in the presence of a landowner, one living on Cotton Gin Road.

“I thought it was standard procedure for all adjacent landowners to have received a letter of notification of the rezoning; she said she did not. She asked a lot of questions,” Brothers said.

Twine said he had checked on that and found George Lang as the owner of the property Brothers was referencing.

Thomas Langston, also a Planning Board member, said he was aware of another property owner on Cotton Gin Road not being notified of the possible rezoning.

“It sounds like we have some issues with this,” Twine said.

A motion was made by Vice-Chairman Kenneth Jernigan to table the rezoning request in an effort to gain more information and clarification. Henry Jordan offered a second and the measure passed by a 5-0 vote.