Coventine Fides, identified in the record as the property owner, asked the hearing officer to recommend a map amendment to rezone a 10-foot-wide strip of land from AG-1 to R-2 so the strip can be incorporated into an adjacent R-2 subdivision.

Fides testified the strip is approximately 619.74 feet long, is currently woodland and abuts the owner's R-2-zoned lot. He said he bought the strip to maintain a wooded buffer, remove diseased trees, and make future conveyances cleaner for resale: "it makes it easier to convey it... it's just cleaner to do it." He also said nearby landowners share the interest in preserving a woodland buffer and that he received no objections from immediate neighbors; one distant neighbor inquired after seeing the posted notice but had no objection after Fides explained the request.

Fides said Palmyra Township provided a letter that references three petitions (25PC81 and 25PC82 are preliminary plats scheduled before the planning commission on Nov. 3). Miss Hinkle clarified those two are preliminary plat petitions and that the parcel must be rezoned to R-2 before the county could approve the preliminary plat. Fides also stated that a perpetual woodland easement covering the 10-foot strip has been recorded, the strip has its own parcel identification number, and the property was conveyed to him and his wife by warranty deed from Joe and Katie Roth.

The hearing officer said they will prepare a written report and present it to the Lee County Board for a decision on the map amendment. No final county board action was taken at the hearing. Related preliminary plats (25PC81 and 25PC82) are scheduled for a Nov. 3 hearing before the planning commission, and the rezoning is a necessary precondition for county approval of any preliminary plat that would include the strip.