The Greene County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend a rezoning change for a planned Dollar General store on the Asheville Highway.

To be final, the change will have to be approved by the Greene County Commission.

Ronda Sawyer, the state planner under contract to the county, presented a request by Mink Creek Investments, LLC, which asked that property, near Sanford Circle and Victory Boulevard, owned by Phyllis Ricker be rezoned from A-1, which permits general agricultural uses, to B-2, which allows general business uses.

Sawyer said the request was for a retail business, and noted that the Asheville Highway is an arterial road, which is consistent with business zoning. She said nearby properties are zoned A-1, R-1 (residential), M-1 (light industrial) and B-2, the business zone that also allows sales of alcohol.

The request "is not out of character" with the neighborhood, Sawyer said.

Ricker was asked to speak and said the change will bring employment and increase county taxes. Ricker also said it was her understanding that the new retail use "may be a Dollar General store." A building exists on the site that has been operated as a restaurant, she said.

At that point, Greg Motes, of The Broadway Group, a commercial real estate development company in Huntsville, Ala., introduced himself.

Motes said he would be senior project manager if the rezoning goes forward.

He said his company just completed construction of a Dollar General Store in Baileyton, and the store planned for the Asheville Highway will also be a Dollar General store.

It will have "exactly the same footprint as the Baileyton Dollar General," he said.

Sawyer then told the group that a plot plan had been submitted by Motes for review, pending the rezoning.

So far, she said, she has "not heard any opposition." Several people were present who said they live nearby and support the rezoning.

Sawyer said she and Amy Tweed, the county's planning coordinator, were ready to recommend that the planning commission make a favorable recommendation to the county commission.

County Commissioner Sam Riley's motion to that effect was approved unanimously.

The planning commission also approved the Don and Kathy Moody subdivision on Glades Road in the McDonald community of western Greene County.

The plan showed 5.45 acres divided into four lots.

Sawyer said the staff had reviewed the property and noted that the subdivision meets road frontage requirements, and recommended approval. Approval was unanimous on a motion by Billy McCamey.

Approval also was given to the Daniel Broyles subdivision on Wilhoit Road off Chuckey Pike.

Sawyer said the narrow, 0.47 acre lot is to be used to provide road frontage to another lot.

It was only presented to the planning commission, she said, because a creek and a flood zone cross the property. Approval was unanimous on a motion by County Commissioner John D. Carter.

Sawyer also told the group that she and Tweed had reviewed and granted approval to 10 "minor" subdivisions that "met requirements 100 percent." She asked the planning commission to "vote to recognize my actions," and the group did, on a motion by Carter.