Hogs on city lawns, agenda

Jacksonville Progress

December 09, 2008 08:07 am

— Staff report
One item on the Jacksonville City Council agenda has a chance of hogging a lot of meeting time — the city’s policies that for dealing with feral hogs.
Jacksonville City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Norman Activity Center, 526 E. Commerce St.
Several residents over the past few months have fallen victim to the hogs’ damage.
“We have been seeing a lot more pigs around town recently. We’ve probably had six to eight calls from landowners in the city in the last six months, and that’s a pretty big increase from what we used to see,” Animal Control Officer Susie Clements said in October. “They are all over the place now. They run in packs, and they just do so much damage when they come through.”
Clements reported in October that trapping as many hogs as possible is basically all the city could do to fight the problem. The city owns three large feral swine traps, intended to catch groups of pigs at once, but one of the traps was destroyed by a falling tree during Hurricane Ike.
Council will also hold two public hearings Tuesday, both concerning zone-change requests from churches.
Mount Zion Presbyterian Church is requesting a special-use permit that will allow the congregation to worship at 906 Churchill St. within the Lincoln Park Addition, which is designated as a “One and Two Family District.” The city’s Planning and Zoning Committee has received no verbal or written opposition to Mount Zion’s request.
Templo Monte De Sion Church also has requested a special-use permit for its church at 15406 S. Bolton St., which is in an area designated as a “Light Manufacturing District.” The Planning and Zoning Committee reported it had not received any opposition to this request, either.
East Texas Medical Center’s Olympic Center is progress, and hospital officials are requesting permission to remove on-street parking on South Ragsdale and Nacogdoches streets. The parking area will be replaced with landscaping and a sidewalk. Hospital officials will also request permission for a new parking to extend into the right-of-way of a portion of South Main and Nacogdoches streets.
City Council members also will discuss accepting bids for the old city warehouse at 507 Frankston St. and for the Jacksonville Development Center at 309 E. Commerce St. Both facilities and their offices have been relocated to the Felix Lane Public Works Building on South Bolton.