I attended the December 18, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The first agenda item was “Final Public Hearing – Speed Limit Reduction for Bannister Hollow Road.”
There was nobody present at the meeting to argue for or against the reduction.
The Commission unanimously approved the request to reduce the speed limit to 20 MPH.
The second agenda item was “Surplus Funds Request.”
This request was for a $74,327 surplus. The County Attorney noted that the surplus was large and assured the commissioners that he had reviewed and approved the request.
This request was unanimously approved by the Commission.
The next agenda items were part of the Planning and Zoning agenda.
The third agenda item was “PZ25-0182 Mehrhoff- Rezone R-1 to B-1.”
This was a a rezone of a property that used to be owned by Ozark BBQ near TT where the requestor intended to build storage units. The requestor did not not attend the Planning and Zoning meeting or this meeting.
Residents were worried about potential water run-off issues that the project might create.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton reassured them that it part of the permitting process to ensure that such issues are mitigated. The plan would also have to be approved by DNR.
A major concern (as always with these rezone requests) was that once the property was rezoned as B-2, there was no guarantee that the property owner would build storage units there. A B-2 zoning would open the use of the property to a wide variety of commercial uses.
This property was in Commissioner Dougan’s district and he clearly stated that he would always reject any rezone request if the requestor made no effort to attend the meetings or at least contact the Commission about the project.
This rezone request was rejected unanimously by the Commission.
The final agenda item was “PZ25-0184 Horigan – Rezone R-1 to B-2.”
The property was located at 163 Haskell Lane off of Neongwah Bend Road near the Bridal Cave. The requestors were commercial pilots who wanted to build tiny homes on the property and eventually turn it into a wedding venue. The homes would be rented through AirBnb. They envisioned that the location would host “micro-weddings” which apparently are weddings attended by 50 people or less. That’s Micro? Sheesh! They would also rent to groups who wanted to stay there when they attended events at the nearby Ozark Amphitheater.
The requestors were experienced AirBnB owners. They would use external decibel meters and cell tracking systems to ensure the houses weren’t over-crowded or too loud.
(You should have seen Skelton’s face when they mentioned the cell phone tracking system. Priceless.)
The residents who spoke against the rezone objected to the request to spot zone a B-2 property in the middle of a sea of R-1 zoned properties. They were irritated that the requestors had not made an effort to talk to them about their plans for the project. Many also felt that the road was simply too dangerous for the heavy traffic the construction and the renters would bring.
George Pruitt, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, spoke in favor of the rezone. This upset several of the residents who felt that Pruitt had already had his opportunity to weigh in on the issue at the Planning and Zoning meeting. Commissioner Skelton agreed and stated that he would not allow to that to happen again in the future.
The representative from Camden County Planning and Zoning explained that there are changes that are in the works for Camden County’s Unified Land Use Code. They are considering adjusting the Agricultural zoning so it would allow wedding venues. Bars would also be moved from B-2 commercial zoning and assigned to a stricter commercial zoning class.
After hearing the feedback, the requestors were willing to seek a deed restriction for their property if that would satisfy those neighbors who were concerned that some other commercial business might be established on the property. They also explained that they lived on the property and wanted to be good neighbors.
The Commission voted unanimously to deny this rezone request. The requestors were offered the hope that the upcoming changes in the ULUC zoning might give them the opportunity to have their wedding venue business on the property without requiring them to go through the rezoning process all over again.
And that was that.
In other news, my friend Kevin “KB” Burns was nice enough to invite me onto KRMS Radio again. We discussed my unhealthy obsession with tire pressure, the Camden County budget, and I told my story about integrity and police academy push-ups. You can listen to the hour-long show at this link and I hope you have fun listening to it because we had a lot of fun making it:
Among the Dogwoods 