On Tuesday, members of the LeGrand City Council addressed concerns surrounding a controversial zoning request.

Mike Wright, owner of Wright’s Construction and Development Incorporated, is looking to have an area of vacant property along West Main Street rezoned from residential to light commercial so he can proceed with the building of some new storage units.

Council member Tyler sawyer questioned how the zoning change would actually benefit residents of the community.

It was noted that if the property is successfully rezoned, roughly 10,000 additional square feet of storage would be added, resulting in about 25 square feet of storage per citizen, which is four-point-three times the national average.

Most of those in attendance did not feel the zoning request would be a major issue given the building currently sits on a lot in disrepair, and the main area used for commercial lots lies along Main Street.

The zoning request was approved by the council by a 3-2 margin, but will not take effect until an additional public hearing on the matter is held on April 12th, making it official.

In addition to that discussion, Wright had lodged a citizen complaint against the council over events surrounding the initial public hearing on the rezoning of the property on February 17th.

According to Wright, two council members had approached some neighboring property owners prior to the initial vote about the property on February 21st, with some inappropriate questions regarding Wright and his company.

The neighbors later contacted Wright and brought the matter to his attention.  The council members involved have denied engaging in anything unlawful or inappropriate.

At Tuesday’s meeting, discussion on the matter became somewhat heated and after 10 minutes Mayor Shane Sweitzer requested that the council move on to other business.

Wright has reportedly filed a complaint with the Public Information Board, which will review the matter at a later date.