SIX MILE – Some corner lots on Belle Shoals Road have pitted a local business owner in one corner, and Six Mile’s mayor in the other.

The zoning of lots owned by Dan Ward came before council for second reading Tuesday night, but Ward says the all of the lots can’t be zoned low-density residential, or even zoned at all – because they’re not in town limits.

“They’ve always been in the county,” he said. “There’s no question. I don’t pay any city taxes on them.”

He plans to use the lots as part of his Dan Ward House Movers home recycling business – but never all at once, a plan he said he’s had to change since the issue of zoning arose.

Ward said he’s placed homes on each of the lots, and has no plans to move them, as he knows that if he moves the homes, and the zoning is passed, he would not be allowed to put houses for his commercial business on the residential lots.

“The way it looks now, they’ll be there until I die,” he said. “If I move them off, I can’t replace them.”

Ward has owned one of the lots since 1994 and says it’s within the town limits but says at no point were the other 2 properties, which he has owned for several years, ever brought into the town.

But Mayor John Wade disagrees, saying the zoning is long overdue, as the lots have been in town limits since 1965.

Wade maintains that the lots don’t need to be annexed into Six Mile, as they’re already a part of the town, and as such can be zoned.

Former Mayor Milton Alexander told him that the lots are in the town, and Wade said that officials at the Secretary of State’s archives sent him records proving the lots had been annexed years ago.

Wade then spoke to County Auditor Brent Suddeth, County Tax Assessor David Day and County Treasurer Tim Looper.

“They didn’t have anything that could confirm that either way,” he said.

But the town’s attorney Pamela Deal said the proof from the state showed that the town was within its rights to zone the lots, Wade said.

The town’s Planning Commission and residents of surrounding properties agreed that the area should be zoned commercial residential.

Zoning his property would rob him of his property rights and freedoms and would amount to theft, Ward said.

“It’s taking my freedom away from me,” he said. “You can’t zone a property that’s not in the city.”

Ward said that a former owner of the property and former Six Mile Zoning Administrator Richard Davidson both agreed that his properties were not in the city.

“We proved that it’s not in the city,” Ward said.

But town council accepted Davidson’s resignation Tuesday, and voted to appoint Eddie Durham as the town’s new administrator.

“He doesn’t want to hassle with it,” Wade said of Davidson.

Council took no action on the lots’ zoning after motions to table and to approve the zoning both died.

Councilman Tom Garrett moved to table the matter, citing the ambiguity of the lots’ annexation status, with Councilwoman Wilma Burkett seconding.

That motion died 2-2 with Wade and Councilman Jeff Dennis opposing it.

“I understand the confusion,” he said, adding his motion to approve was based solely on the assumption the lots were within Six Mile.

But Dennis’ motion died for lack of a second.

Wade said that only delays the matter for a month or two.

Ward said he’s prepared to sue the town to protect his property rights, and he’s prepared to appeal any court losses.

“It’s going to cost me a lot of money to fight this,” Ward said, adding that legal battles would be costly for the town as well. “You know it’s not right, what you’re doing.”

Wade said that Ward needs to produce his evidence.

“Then we’ll look at it,” he said. “And then everything we’re doing is null and void. I have an obligation, and so does this council, to uphold the law. The law says it’s in the city limits.”

He will ask Deal to appear the next time the issue comes before council to explain her stance on the zoning’s legality.

Wade said that personally he wasn’t interested in the town collecting back taxes on the properties, if they are within town limits.

“That’s not the issue,” he said. “I’m not interested in hitting Mr. Ward with a back taxes bill.”

Durham said he’s torn over the issue currently.

“The truth’s always somewhere in the middle,” he said. “You’re hearing both sides of the story. All I want to do is treat people fairly.

“If it is within the town limits, and the ordinance is in effect, you have to stick to the letter of the law, and let the town do the talking,” Durham continued.