Neighbors ask commission to define zoning on vacant lots
About 30 residents on and surrounding Ashton Place in Avondale Estates, pleaded with commissioners during a recent work session to define the zoning on two long neglected lots. Although the lots have had the same landowner for a half-century, there had been rumors of an impending sale.
Neither lot had precise zoning: one had no zoning and the other next to it hadn’t been assigned a “sub area” in the central business district. Neighbors feared that under current conditions an office building or grocery or any number of unwanted uses could get erected.
The lots are several hundred yards northeast of the Tudor Village at the end of Ashton Place. It’s believed that decades ago the city’s trolley ran through here, but today the area is overgrown and entangled with fallen trees. There is also a terrain that drops dramatically into a deep ditch.
In the end all five commissioners agreed the two lots should be zoned R-12, for low-density, single-family homes. The commission still needs to hold a public hearing before taking a final vote, probably in September.
For now any plans for the property remain unknown.
