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By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

The Clanton City Council suspended its usual rules to approve a rezoning request on the same night as the first reading of the ordinance change during its meeting on May 23.

The council unanimously approved a request by Phillip Sims Jr to rezone or property on Lay Dam Road (Pin No. 10482) from R-1-A Single Family Residential to O-1 Office Building.

No comments for or against the rezoning were made during the public hearing prior to the vote.

In a work session on May 19, Mayor Jeff Mims said the property owner had requested the request be decided on at the May 23 meeting because the cost of building materials keeps going up.

The council also approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for preliminary engineering, right-of-way and construction for the re-alignment of Poplar Springs Road and Country Club Drive.

The project was selected for state funding in January. However, Mims said ALDOT is projecting it could be two years before work begins on the project.

The project will close current access from Country Club Drive onto Highway 31 and the nearby access from Poplar Springs Road. Having the roads connect with Highway 31 so close to each other has created issues, and there have been several accidents in the area. A new road from Highway 31 to Poplar Springs Road will be built from the intersection with the traffic light near Popeyes.

The city has also decided to pay for fireworks for the day of Peach Jam Jubilee, June 25, instead of having them on July 4.

An update to the ordinance outlining when special events requiring off-duty offices will be charged was read. The update removes a date in May as a day when no one would be charged but keeps the dates of the Martin Luther King Jr, Peach Festival and Christmas parades as festival days that would be free. The fee on non-festival days would be $35 per hour per office.