SNOW HILL – County officials approved rezoning requests in Berlin and Bishopville last week.
The Worcester County Commissioners approved a request to reclassify a Route 611 property as commercial, in line with its use, and a request to rezone a property labeled estate to agricultural. Both changes were given favorable recommendations by the county’s planning commission.
Attorney Mark Cropper, representing the owner of the Sun Signs property in West Ocean City, told the commissioners the property had been used commercially since 1988. He said a mistake was made when the property was rezoned A-2 agricultural during the county’s last comprehensive rezoning.
Commissioner Chip Bertino asked how a mistake like that had even been made.
Jennifer Keener, deputy director of development review and permitting, said the comprehensive plan called for a reduction of commercial zoning in that area but acknowledged the possibility of a mistake.
“It was probably an oversight,” she said.
Commissioner Jim Bunting said he’d been involved in the last rezoning and that it had been a massive project.
“There’s probably other things we missed too,” he said.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve that rezoning request as well as the next one, which was also presented by Cropper for YK Enterprise LLC. Cropper said his client was asking to have 2.88 acres of land currently zoned estate reclassified as agricultural. The property is on St. Martin’s Neck Road.
Cropper said the property was originally zoned agricultural before it was labeled E-1. He said that E-1 designation was a mistake, since the county’s comprehensive plan called for the removal of E-1 zoning.
“The estate zoning classification was supposed to be eliminated,” Cropper said.
