Those Planning Commission study sessions can fool you. Sometimes there's excitement, like Monday in Tullahoma. Even though the Commission as a rule does not vote on items during the first meeting of the month, sometimes just the consideration of something that MIGHT happen will bring out the citizens to get their side of the story in. I say, "Huzzah! Good for them!" If you head out of town on Wilson Ave., you'll notice a nice, big, flat cleared field on the corner of Wilson and Sharondale. It's been for sale for a long time, and it doesn't appear likely that someone will buy it and put a house or houses there. To the people who live on Sharondale, that's no big deal. What's wrong with a nice field? It's clean, mowed at a reasonable frequency, and not an eyesore in any way. The owner of the land wants it rezoned to accommodate O-1, or office/medical so it will fetch a higher price on the market. Dr. Mark Burson, a urologist who came to Tullahoma from Atlanta a couple of year ago, wants to buy the lot and locate his business and that of Dr. Ben Mahan, an ophthalmologist, there. Burson assured those gathered that "clean businesses" such as his close to residential areas are quite normal in Atlanta, that they won't mess up traffic, and that he'll put up an "aesthetically beautiful" building. Dr. Mahan's wife, representing her husband, complained that the current location of the practice, across Jackson Street from the high school, is difficult for sight-impaired patients to navigate, implying that Wilson Ave. would be a piece of cake for a blind person to cope with. Tullahoma has long had its share of hero worship for Medical Deities, but the Planning Commission seems to be willing to stand up to what might be a bad precedent. There is no zoning designation that is solely for medical offices. If and when Burson and/or Mahan moved or closed their offices, it wouldn't necessarily be a medical facility that would move in. Maybe a sign maker would move in. Or a day care facility. You can bet your last dollar that if a sign maker or a day care facility wanted to move in next door to any physician's home, they'd be spitting nails over it. About a dozen or so Sharondale residents showed up Monday, but there was little speakiing out on the subject. Burson gave his arguments, but since it was only a study session, the Sharondale residents apparently decided to save their arguments for the public hearing on the matter that is to take place Feb. 18. I, for one, can't wait. What Burson wants is what is known as "spot zoning," or zoning that does not extend naturally from adjoining properties. The legal type of spot zoning is called "non-conforming use" and can be granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals if the Planning Commission turns down the request for rezoning. Planning director Dwayne Hicks rightly warned that a "non-conforming use" designation would be dangerous and could expose the city to legal action, should someone decide that preferential treatment for doctors is not fair. Though nothing was decided Monday, there was a definite cautionary vibe among commissioners, thinking ahead to 2015, or 2020, when perhaps a totally different kind of business could move in, perhaps causing a cascade of zoning changes back toward Tullahoma's commercial center. The deliberative meeting on the 18th should be interesting.