Moser withdraws motion to rezone Sebree property

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

The city of Sebree sent out notice on Monday afternoon that Mark Moser, the owner of JEM Development, had withdrawn a motion to rezone a 6.5 acre lot in the city from manufactured housing to multi-family housing.

That brings to an end a heated debate that has been the center of attention in the city for the last month, since Moser presented a plan to rezone the city to the Sebree Planning Commission. The plan was approved by the commission, and was then presented to the city council for approval. Following protest from many residents, a vote on the rezoning ordinance was put on hold until a public hearing that was scheduled for Thursday night at 6:00 p.m.

“We began this project because of our love for our community, never imagining we would have to combat rumors and misinformation,” Moser said on Tuesday. “We believe this misinformation has caused a lot of hardships and hard feelings in our community. Out of our love for Sebree, we felt that it was time to stop this process.  We still believe that this would have been a great project and would have generated a lot of revenue for the City of Sebree and the local business’s.”

JEM’s plan was a $1.5 million development that included four brick apartment buildings that each housed eight 800 square foot two bedrooms units. There would also have been a complex office, a laundry building, a picnic area and a playground.

Part of the controversy seems to be that some residents believed the apartments were intended to be low income housing. Mark Moser said in an earlier interview that this is just not true.

“We’re not taking any Section 8 or Kentucky Housing money at all,” Moser said. “The project is solely owned by JEM Development.”

There has been no word from Moser yet if the issue is finished or if he has plans to develop the complex outside the city of Sebree.