I attended the January 16, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All three commissioners were present. This meeting was a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting so there was a good-sized crowd.
The first item was some Old Business. Presiding Commissioner Skelton read a resolution to purchase a parcel of land at Highway J and Highway 7 from the Hilda B. Lowell Living Trust for $20,000. (At a previous meeting, the commissioners had expressed interest in this lot because it is adjacent to two Camden County parcels and could be useful for the Road and Bridge Department in the future.)
The resolution was approved unanimously.
The first agenda item was “PZ24-0171, 0172 Sprayhawk Investments, LLC, – Rezone R-1 to R-3 & R-3 to R-1.”
The property owner was present and obviously was in favor of the re-zone. He also admitted that his company is named Sprayhawk. I was sure I had heard the name wrong. There was nobody at the meeting to oppose it so the Commission voted unanimously to approve the re-zone.
The second agenda item was “PZ24-0165 Capstone Fastrack LLC, Rezone R-1 to R-3.”
Greg Loeffler from Capstone was present to advocate for this re-zone.
The lot in question was adjacent to their existing R-3 lot and he wanted to change it to R-3 to make the zoning consistent. Commissioner Dougan asked Loeffler what his plans were for the property. Loeffler responded that he wanted to build single footprint, tiny cabin homes. They planned to construct 40-50 units.
There were members of the nearby communities who had some objections. Some believed the homes were below the minimum square footage requirements, but they were informed by the Planning and Zoning employees that those minimums had been removed from the Unified Land Use Code in 2023. Others voiced concerns about the increased traffic from the project impacting the nearby intersection at Thong Tree Road and Highway 5. The Camden County Road and Bridge Administrator explained that State Representative Jeff Vernetti had already addressed that intersection with MODOT and there were only two accidents reported there in the past few years.
(Thong Tree Road?!? Apparently a thong tree is a real type of tree and there is no lurid story behind the naming of Thong Tree Road. Imagine my disappointment.)
Loeffler assured the Commission that he intended to leave a 40 foot buffer of trees around the development because he wanted it to retain some of the sylvan atmosphere. The current water system can handle the new construction and an upgrade to the existing sewer system is planned.
The Planning and Zoning representative pointed out that the re-zone and tiny cabin house development would actually create fewer residential units than if the developer built duplexes under its current R-1 zoning.
The Commission voted to approve the re-zone from R-1 to R-3 unanimously.
The final agenda item was PZ24-0167, 0168 Woodland Vacation Properties, LLC, Rezone R-1 to B-2.
The developer for this re-zone request was Justin Wagner, the owner of Waves and Wheels. You might remember him from an episode of Lakefront Empire, the HGTV show about realtors at the Lake of the Ozarks.
There were lots of people present to speak against this re-zone request and there were also many folks at the meeting to support Wagner and his project. I’m not a stenographer so I’m going to summarize what was said.
According to Wagner, he purchased the property and wants to re-zone it as B-2 so he can move his business there and develop the remainder as a motorcoach park. His intention is to place Waves and Wheels at the corner of Bluewater Bay and Shawnee Bend Road. The motorcoach park would be very “high end” with numerous amenities. He stated that he wants to be a good neighbor and offered to contribute $50,000 to Camden County Road and Bridge for road maintenance in the area.
Wagner explained that if he isn’t granted the re-zone, under the current zoning, he could instead develop the property as a 225 unit manufactured home park. He displayed a photo on his slideshow of a trailer park that looked remarkably similar to the intro image of the trailer park from Trailer Park Boys. This elicited groans from the various neighbors and accusations that he was threatening them with a trailer park.
The commissioners made the point several times during the proceedings that Wagner could easily build a trailer park on the property under the current zoning and Camden County was currently facing a critical need for more affordable housing.
The neighbors against the re-zone expressed concerns that once the property was re-zoned, there were no guarantees that Wagner or whoever owned the property after him would develop a project that would impact the property values of the neighborhood. Some were concerned that Wagner’s business would increase the boat traffic in the cove. Others felt that the current state of the roads in the neighborhood wouldn’t be adequate for the increase in street traffic. They also pointed out that the Planning and Zoning Commission had voted 8-1 against the re-zoning.
The advocates for the re-zoning of the property seemed to be mostly friends, employees of Wagner, realtors, or his family members. They generally provided character references, attesting to his excellent personal qualities and his commitment to making sure that his properties are in perfect condition.
One citizen explained that when the Planning and Zoning District was created, the Master Plan for Camden County blanketed most of the affected areas as R-1 zoning. The only way to create any commercial or business zoning on the waterfront is to purchase it and then have it re-zoned by request.
In conclusion, Wagner responded to the complaints of those in opposition to the re-zone request. He told them he wanted to be a good neighbor and make the amenities from his development available to them. He wasn’t going to have boat storage on the property and the boat traffic for his business would be minimal.
Commissioner Dougan, the 2nd District Commissioner, made the final comments since this was in his district. He expected there to be development in Sunrise Beach because more businesses were going to be moving into the district. He thought that Wagner’s planned development looked nice and would improve the area. He preferred Wagner’s plans to the proposed “low income housing” of the alternative [Plan 2 or The Trailer Park Boys development] and said that if it was his neighborhood, he would rather have the motorcoach park built there.
Commissioner Dougan made a motion to approve the re-zone and it was approved unanimously.
And that was that.
Just a few observations from me. There does seem to be a disconnect between the Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission if the Commission approved it unanimously, yet the PZ Commission (appointed by the Commission) denied the re-zone 8-1.
Wagner mentioned that he did not give the same presentation to the PZ Commission that he put forward at the Commission meeting with his slide show. If that’s the case, it might explain the disparity in the voting.
Among the Dogwoods 