Published: May 16, 2009 08:22 pm      

Couple withdraws rezoning request

DANVILLE — Lindsay Varner says he’ll continue with his plans to operate an organic apple orchard without rezoning the property.

Lindsay and his wife, Marie, have withdrawn their request to rezone 136 W. Lake Boulevard from R-2 single-family residential medium density to AG agriculture zoning for the purpose of operating an apple orchard.

The property, adjacent to their home, is bounded by West Lake Boulevard to the north, Tuttle Street to the west, Evans Street on the east and Crestwood Circle and Randy Lane to the south. The site is not in the city’s limits, but within the city’s 1.5 mile zoning jurisdiction.

The request was to go before the city council for action on Tuesday.

The zoning commission’s recommendation, however, was to deny the rezoning due to: it being spot zoning in the residential neighborhood, not in compliance with the city’s future land-use plan and neighbor concerns about the agriculture zoning designation meaning various possible future business uses for the property.

Lindsay Varner wanted the rezoning for conservation and property tax breaks.

Varner said if he was told it would be spot zoning, he likely would not have submitted the request.

“I didn’t want to waste anyone else’s time and effort,” Varner said about why they withdrew the request. “It’s just one of those things that happened.”

“It really never was going to be a big thing,” Varner added, saying he just wanted to be up front with everyone.

He said he understands neighbor’s concerns about possible future property uses if the property switched hands, which could include a wide variety of businesses and even a telecommunications tower.

The Varners plan to open Marie’s Apple Trees adjacent to their home. The orchard will not be open to the public and there will be no employees.

Lindsay said they still plan to sell the apples off site.

The apples won’t be picture perfect at the start, but will be suitable for applesauce and apple butter, he said.

“The first couple of years, we want to make sure we have good stuff,” he added.

The Varners already have been pruning the older trees a couple of years.

Lindsay Varner said they want to be a friendly neighbor.

Chris Milliken, Danville planning and zoning manager, admits there is nothing to stop the Varners from continuing to grow apples there.

It would become an issue, such as if there was significant traffic or if they planted 300 more trees, Milliken said.

Lindsay is a former Danville landscape business owner now working in Florida. He’s been in the horticulture business for about 35 years.

He and Marie live in Danville off and on right now. They built a new log cabin home.

The Varners plan on retiring here — spending summers in Danville, but winters in Florida.

The Varners bought the orchard property three years ago. It had about 100 apple trees on it that were planted some 25 to 30 years ago, Lindsay said.

The Varners saved about 65 trees to prune and revive. They also planted 20 new trees.