COLUMBIA — Frustrated after repeated attempts to gain rezoning approval to establish a trailer park in northern Boone County for veterans who are homeless or have disabilities, David Sallee vented a bit during a meeting with Boone County commissioners Monday morning.
Did he want coffee? they asked. Nope. Did he want a cup of tea? Not at all.
Rather, he said, he'd like "a shot of cheap whiskey."
The special meeting was intended to help Sallee work out a plan to rezone his property so that he could build Sallee's Post-Service Sanctuary - a 5-acre trailer park intended to help homeless and disabled veterans "decompress before reintegrating into society," Sallee said. The prospective trailer park would be located at 11251 N. Hecht Road in northern Boone County, just outside Hallsville.
But Sallee has been wrangling with Boone County officials for months on the plan. The Boone County Planning and Zoning Commission rejected his original rezoning request on June 19 because the property lacked adequate infrastructure to support the proposed zoning. Sallee appealed that decision to the county commission on July 1 but withdrew his appeal because commissioners said that, among other deficiencies, the property lacked a waterline sufficient to extinguish fires, the sewage lagoon did not meet county code and the original zoning classification on the application could allow for the property to be purchased and developed beyond what the area could support.
Commissioners on Monday indicated a willingness to work with Sallee to help him come up with a workable plan. One option they mentioned was an application for a conditional-use permit that would allow Sallee to build his trailer park but prohibit a later expansion of the development.
"Let us do the homework," Boone County Northern District Commissioner Skip Elkin said.
October will be the earliest opportunity for Sallee to submit a new zoning request to the Planning and Zoning Commission. All three commissioners commended Sallee for what he is trying to do, but said they could not get around the rules.