After delaying Gregg Kettyle’s request to rezone 7.9 acres of property for an auto repair and junkyard business, the Hall County planning board on Monday recommended that the project be approved.

Kettyle wants to rezone his property, on the west side of Athens Highway at its intersection with Barrett Road, from agricultural zoning to Planned Industrial Development.

The property would continue to be used for a wholesale, rebuilt auto, wrecked car and auto repair-junkyard business.

At the planning board’s Oct. 15 meeting, Kettyle’s request was delayed. The planning board had recommended denial for several reasons.

The board was concerned that Kettyle owns several properties in the area, all of which are nonconforming. The property, the board said, also has minimal road frontage with access as narrow as seven feet.

"We have come up with a change in the application that we think addresses all concerns the board had," said Wes Robinson, representing Kettyle, Monday evening.

The new plan calls for a roadway and cul-de-sac to be built into the rear portion of Kettyle’s property, which Robinson said would provide access to all of the parcels.

Kettyle originally requested to vary the property’s front yard setback from 40 feet to one foot and from 40 feet to 10 feet. The new proposal removed those requests.

Another point of discussion was the amount of cars that were requested to be stored on Kettyle’s property. He asked to be able to store 200 cars; the planning board wanted to allow no more than 125 vehicles on the property at one time.

"We don’t think 200 cars is an unreasonable number," Robinson said. "Restricting it more than that is unreasonable. It’s like telling a lumberyard you can only have 1,000 boards to sell."

Planning board member Jones Cottrell said he didn’t have a problem with allowing 200 cars on the property, and moved to recommend approval of Kettyle’s request.

The board voted 4-1 to recommend approval, with Chris Braswell opposed.

The Hall County Board of Commissioners will hear Kettyle’s request on Dec. 13.