The Newton County Board of Commissioners approved for a tree service operation to start business at 126 Larue Road, a street located on Ga. Highway 162, at their meeting Tuesday night.

Commissioners voted 3 to 2 on a proposal that modified the uses allowed on the site to include a tree service business, modified the site plan standards and modified the standards to construct an entrance that meet all commercial standards.

Commissioners Mort Ewing, Nancy Schulz and Tim Fleming voted for approving the proposal and commissioners Lanier Sims and J.C. Henderson voted not to approve the proposal.

Voting on the proposal was deferred from the Aug. 21 meeting because commissioners had concerns with the commercial entrance at Ga. Highway 162 meeting minimum standards with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

During that meeting, Commissioner Sims addressed the hours of operation of the tree service, which were proposed of being Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sims said the area around Larue Road had a lot of homes in the area and he was concerned with the grinding of the trees would take place during the evening hours of operation. He again raised those concerns Tuesday night, along with two other citizens who spoke to the board.

"I was under the impression that we were limiting the time to 5 p.m. versus 7 p.m. with it being close to subdivisions," Sims said. "I thought it would be Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m."

After some discussion, the tree service operation was approved with the original hours of operation proposed from 7a.m. to 7 p.m.

In a letter to Scott Sirotkin, the director of the Newton County Department of Development Services, Bryan Perry, the applicant for the property, said he purchased the property at Larue Road in order to relocate his tree service company, Above All Tree Service, from his Conyers site.

Perry said during a phone interview on Thursday that his company provides services such as tree removal, stump grinding, chipping and pruning, but those services would not be done at the Larue Road location.

"I don't do any grinding on site. I do everything in people's yards," Perry said. "I cut all the logs up in customer's yards and I chip all the limbs up in the customer's yards. I won't be doing any work at that site. It would just be parking trucks so the trucks can go out. It shouldn't be noisy at all where all the vehicles are parked."

According to the letter, Perry's business would have a small amount of automobile parking in front of the building, which would include an office, some storage space and a maintenance area. Perry said tree service vehicles, wood and any mulch would be stored behind the building. He said the wood and mulch stored at the location would be for distribution and resale.