A hearing is scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. at Washington's City Hall to consider the rezoning of a property on East Robert Toombs from R-2 (non-conforming) to C-3.

The property, at 729 E. Robert Toombs, has operated for 40 years as a florist shop and garden supply center. It is in a residential area surrounded by homes.

The property came up for rezoning in January, when the rezoning effort was designed to allow a food pantry and used clothing store to use the property.

Based on a recommendation from the Washington Planning Commission, the city council denied that first request for rezoning.

The Planning Commission had reservations that rezoning the property to commercial would open up the property to be used in a wide range of commercial enterprises that would not be in keeping with the residential nature of the neighborhood.

In response to this second request, the Planning Commission has again recommended against rezoning. In a letter to the Mayor and council, the Commission wrote, "The Commission unanimously recommends not rezoning this property C-3 since virtually all of the adjacent properties have been developed as residences and zoned R-2. In addition, failure of any enterprise at this location, once zoning has been changed, will allow for any other commercial enterprise appropriate for C-3 to operate in a predominately R-2 area, thus significantly affecting adjacent property owners."