by Jackie Nunnery
KILMARNOCK—By a 6-1 vote, the Kilmarnock planning commission on Monday, July 13, recommended a rezoning request for Hawthorne Commons, reducing the amount of commercial development and changing a portion of the tract from single-family to medium density residential.
Commission members Neill Shultz, John Raymond, Brandon Frazier, Albert Nunn, Ann Towner and Leslie Spivey approved the measure. Tom Jones, who at first said he would abstain from voting because he lives in the adjacent neighborhood, voted no because he “didn’t like what it could turn into,” he said.
Presenting the application to the commission, planning and zoning director Marshall Sebra said the site is “currently zoned C-1 commercial and R-1 single family residential. The applicant applied for reducing the area of C-1 and rezoning the remainder of the lot to R-2, medium density.”
Chris White, representing the property owner and applicant, Finley White, assured the commission and nearby residents in attendance at the meeting that the project would have a positive impact on the town and neighborhood.
“The intention is to make it blend in with what’s already there—to complement, and not be…
