NATCHEZ — After hearing concerns from a neighboring resident and voicing concerns of its own, the Natchez Planning Commission voted to table an application for a special exception to allow a double-wide mobile home on Homewood Drive.

The applicant, Hubert Smith, is proposing to place a double-wide mobile home on the lot next to his ex-wife’s mobile home. Smith obtained the lot during the couple’s divorce, while his ex-wife received the lot with the mobile home where the couple lived.

Smith’s ex-wife, Annie Thelma Hill Smith, objected to the mobile home at the meeting, saying it would be just feet from her home.

One of the factors that contributed to the commission tabling the application was the fact that the property line that separated the two lots ran through the porch addition made to the house.

Lawyer Scott Slover, who was representing Hubert Smith, explained that a court order moved the property line so Annie Thelma Hill Smith’s mobile home would sit entirely on her lot.

The lot line that was created by a court order was news to the commissioners because it has not been recorded on the subdivision maps.

Commissioner Deborah Martin said before the commission takes any action, the lot line needed to be properly recorded.

Slover said he had previously met with former city attorney Everett Sanders and former city planner Bob Nix about the matter, and he said both said the court order would suffice to subdivide the lots. Slover said he was not aware that it needed to be further recorded at the courthouse, but he said he was happy to do that.

Martin said earlier in the meeting that the commission did not have an inventory of the mobile homes currently in the area and noted that mobile homes are not permitted under the development code in the Single Family Residential, or R-1, zoning district. The mobile homes currently in the district, Martin said, pre-date the development code and were grandfathered in.

Slover said although he understood mobile homes are not permitted, he said there are 16 mobile homes within a 300-feet radius of Smith’s lot. He said neither he nor Smith believed the addition of the mobile home would not upset the overall look of the neighborhood.

Without a city planner or an attorney present to advise the commission on the matter, Martin suggested the commission table the matter until the commission could receive legal advice from the city attorney.

In other news from the meeting:

4The commission voted to table an application from the Magnolia Bluffs Casino for final site plan because of lack of information. No casino representatives were present at the meeting.