Two weeks after sand mining proposals for hundreds of rural acres in Baker County were withdrawn to allow more time for regulatory agencies to study the plans, a county commissioner has hatched a plan to stop them permanently.

Commissioner Mark Hartley had planned to introduce an ordinance to prohibit sand mining in agricultural areas at the end of the commission meeting on the evening of September 4. But he decided at the last minute to postpone the matter, saying he needed more time to review the draft ordinance before moving forward with his idea.

“I want to read it over to make sure it’s exactly what we want to do,” he said after the meeting was adjourned shortly before 6 pm.

The county’s present zoning code allows mining operations on lands with agricultural zoning designations by special exception. Mr. Hartley’s proposal, if adopted at a later date, would restrict sand mining to industrial zones only.

The proposed ordinance states that continuing to permit sand mining on agricultural lands, which make up more than half of the county’s total acreage excluding national forest land, is not in compliance with the county’s comprehensive, long-range planning mission.

The former Food Lion grocery store space in the Cornerstone Shopping Center in Macclenny may soon be occupied by the farm and ranch products retailer Tractor Supply Co.

The property owner, Yormaco-Cornerstone, LLC, has petitioned the City of Macclenny to rezone the property to accommodate the new store. Renovation plans were submitted previously.

The Macclenny City Commission will consider on September 11 rezoning about 8.6 acres at the northwest corner of Willis Hodges Road and South 6th Street from Commercial General to Planned Unit Development, or PUD.

PUD is a flexible zoning category in which many of the development restrictions ­— on things like setbacks, landscaping and signage — are negotiated between the city and the property owner, or this case, its agent Weaver Realty Group of Jacksonville.

Assistant City Manager Roger Yarborough said PUD zoning is being sought because the outside storage areas that Tractor Supply Co. has planned for the site are not permitted in districts zoned Commercial General.

The Baker County Commission, grappling with the same dilemma its dealt with for the past few years, is once again trying to figure out how to balance a new budget when projected expenses exceed income from state and local revenue sources.

But the board got a pretty good start on it this week. During a three-hour workshop on the afternoon of August 27, commissioners and County Manager C.J. Thompson cut nearly $400,000 from a proposed $24.6 million budget.

That still leaves a $1.6 million deficit to be filled with additional revenue, or eliminated by spending cuts. However, Mr. Thompson said county departments had already absorbed significant budget cuts and didn’t know how much more slashing they could take.

“I’m happy with my department heads,” he said. “There are some departments that can’t be cut (any further).”

The next round of budget talks will begin at 3 pm on September 4.

A list of the reductions made by the county manager to trim the deficit included the elimination of $197,600 in contingency funding, $50,000 by removing two proposed new trucks in the road department, $39,000 by not filling an open road department position and $49,050 by eliminating a new Emergency Medical Services lieutenant position.

Randy Michael

A Glen St. Mary man pleaded no contest in circuit court to manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of the materials to do so and felony theft and was sentenced on August 21 to 13 months in prison.

Randy Phillip Michael, 37, was given credit for 51 days he was in county jail and will be on a drug offender probation for two years upon release.

He was arrested last December for operating a meth lab in a camper trailer he rented in the Deerwood Circle neighborhood of northeast Macclenny. He was also caught outside the CVS Pharmacy in Macclenny after another party purchased key ingredients for meth and delivered them to him in the parking lot.

Mr. Michael was implicated again this April in another meth lab operation, this one at the address of a woman on Taber Blvd. in Glen St. Mary.

The defendant also pleaded no contest to felony theft of liquor from Walmart in November of last year. He has a criminal past that includes grand theft, felony driving on a suspended license, battery on police and disorderly intoxication.

In other sentencings that day, Jeffrey Perryman, 31, of Glen drew a four-year probation term after pleading no contest to violating probation in several 2009 cases with his arrest for burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief in February of this year.

Judge Phyllis Rosier added the provision that the defendant successfully complete a drug rehab program and pay restitution of $3395. He will remain in jail until space opens at the rehab center.