BELLE — As questions continue over the extent of commercial activity at 203 Lehnhoff Drive, minutes from a 2023 city meeting show former Belle alderman Tony Gieck originally sought city approval for a much narrower use of the property — parking and repair of a single logging truck.

Gieck’s original written request provides additional detail about how he described the intended use of the property. In a Feb. 15, 2023, letter to the city of Belle Planning and Zoning Board, Gieck requested a commercial-use variance for his shop on Lot 21 on Lehnhoff Drive.

In the letter, Gieck said, “I, Tony G. Gieck, am requesting a Commercial useage [sic] variance for my shop located on Lot no. 21 on Lehnhoff Drive in Belle, Mo. I use this location for parking and repair work on my log truck. This is the home base for Gieck Logging, LLC., and is registered with the Federal and State governments at 203 Lehnhoff Drive ,Belle, MO 65013.”

The letter described the requested use as parking and repair work on Gieck’s log truck and identified 203 Lehnhoff Drive as the home base of Gieck Logging, LLC. It did not describe the property as a logging yard, equipment-storage yard or location for storing multiple commercial vehicles, trailers or other heavy equipment.

The wording provides a contemporaneous description, in Gieck’s own words, of the activity for which he was seeking city approval. His request referred specifically to “my log truck,” rather than describing a broader commercial operation involving multiple trucks or pieces of equipment.

Planning and Zoning records from March 7, 2023, likewise describe the matter as a request to rezone 203 Lehnhoff Drive, Lot 21, from residential to commercial “with a variance for one truck.” The motion passed 3-1, with Ken Stanfield, Wade Guffey and Steve Vogt voting in favor and Randy Jett voting against.

That wording is consistent with the limitation that later appeared in Ordinance No. 620, which granted the property the variance for one logging truck. Taken together, Gieck’s written request, the Planning and Zoning record and the subsequently adopted ordinance repeatedly identify a single truck in describing the approved use.

The records reviewed by the Advocate do not expressly state whether a trailer normally pulled by the logging truck was intended to be considered part of the truck for purposes of the variance. They also do not expressly address separate trailers, agricultural equipment, loaders or other machinery.

That leaves the scope of the phrase “one logging truck” as a central question for what Belle officials approved in 2023 in determining whether the property’s current use remains consistent with that variance.