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Robert Toombs rezoning splits council; Mayor breaks tie over public objections In a controversial move that ends months of contention, the Washington City Council voted Monday night to change the zoning of an East Robert Toombs property to commercial from residential non- conforming to allow a food and clothing ministry to operate in the former Leard's Garden Center location. The first rezoning request on the property was rescinded in January by Rev. Gale Seibert because, she said at the time, "We want anything we do to be a blessing to the community, not a source of divisiveness." The second rezoning request, with property owners James and Margaret Jones adding the horsepower of lawyer Buddy Dallas, convinced the council members from District 1 - Nathaniel Cullars, Maceo Mahoney, and G.L. Avery - to change the zoning of the District 2 property over the strong objections of the residents of the Morningside neighborhood immediately behind the property. Each District 2 city councilman - Pamela Eaton, Ray Hardy, and Edward Pope Jr. - voted against the rezoning. The 3-3 tie was broken by Mayor Willie Burns in favor of rezoning. Council members had heard extensive public objection to the rezoning in a hearing Friday, and a second hearing Monday evening before the regular May council meeting. Residents of the Morningside neighborhood, many elderly widows, had expressed concern that rezoning the parcel from residential non-conforming to commercial would open the door to any kind of business opening at the en- try to their neighborhood, lowering their property values and making the neighborhood less safe. Others were concerned that a food pantry and used clothing store would be out of place in a middleclass residential neighborhood. "That property is in a residential area," said Ruth Rogers, "and we shouldn't be further invaded by commercial activity. Rezoning would open that property up to any use, and bring more noise, litter to our residential neighborhood." Washington Zoning Commission head Mark Waters pointed out at Friday's meeting that the issue was not a matter of needy people, it was a simple zoning issue. "It raises the value of the property in question, but lowers the value of all the adjacent properties." The Zoning Commission has twice recommended against changing the property's zoning from R-2 (Residential non-conforming) to C-3 (Commercial.) Attorney Buddy Dallas, representing James and Margaret Jones, had said in Friday's public hearing that there were "no specific, immediate plans for the property." He said that the reason for the rezoning request was that the property was more valuable zoned C-3. At Monday night's hearing, a citizen challenged Dallas, saying that the ministry clearly had immediate plans for the property. Dallas insisted, in a lawyerly convolution, that there really were no plans - unless the property were rezoned. "I said there was no plan, because until the council agrees, we can have no plan to use it." Rev. Seibert addressed the council on the months-long plans to use the property. It would not include a soup kitchen, she said, but would open only three days a week to offer food and used clothing to the poor people of Wilkes County. City Attorney Barry Fleming has met with Dallas to work through the alternatives to the requested rezoning. Fleming reported to the council Monday night that there were three alternatives: leave the zoning as it is, change it to C-3, or compromise with a conditional use permit which would allow the food ministry to operate without changing the zoning. He did not make a recommendation. After further discussion during Monday night's hearing, Councilman Cullars took action, and proposed that the property be rezoned. He, Mahoney, and Avery voted in favor of changing the zoning, and Councilmen Eaton, Hardy, and Pope voted against the rezoning. Mayor Burns broke the tie in favor of rezoning. In Monday evening's city council meeting after the zoning hearing, Payroll Development Authority Director David Jenkins announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the City of Washington a Brownfield Site Assessment grant of $200,000 to survey former gasoline station sites and other possibly polluted properties. Once identified by the EPA assessment, selected properties may be cleaned up with a future EPA grant in Phase II. Washington was one of only five Georgia communities to receive the EPA brownfield grant this year, he said. The grant, Mayor Burns said, was part of the redevelopment plan now underway to clean up deteriorated and abandoned properties along the Whitehall Street corridor in District 1. Some 10 or 12 sites had been identified as needing attention from the EPA to become viable commercial property again, he said. In a press release issued at the meeting, Mayor Burns said that the city would be reaching out to property owners throughout Washington. "The process today is to work with property owners and avoid any lawsuits or litigation. We want property to stay valuable for parents, their children, and grandchildren," he stated. In other action, the Council gave permission for two groups to use The Square on Saturday, June 2. The Wilkes County Cattlemen's Association requested permission to hold its Beef Month Cook-Off on The Square. Contestants will be cooking at the site, and live Gospel and Bluegrass music, kids' cowboy and cowgirl dress-up contests, exhibits, and games will also be oonducted. The Council proposed that only the west side of The Square be closed between 2 and 6 p.m. that day for the Cook-Off. James Pritchard, pastor of the Washington Church of Christ, also asked permission to use The Square that same day for his church's a capella choir to sing. The Council agreed, suggesting that they sing at the clock end of The Square and coordinate with the Cattlemen's group to avoid conflict. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Donna Hardy said that the Chamber was working with four local businesses that were expanding. Renovations were completed on several downtown businesses and storefronts were filling in. The Chamber is also working with new and future employers in the area, including Zaxby's and Advance Auto Parts, to help them locate and interview qualified employees here, she said. The Chamber of Commerce is also working on workforce development and on improving soft skills. Tourism Director Ashley Barnett told those assembled that the weekend's activities were a success, right up until the thunderstorms hit Saturday night. The Hillary Lindsey concert had raised some $30,000 for middle school and high school band instruments, she said, and brought a crowd of some 1,500 at the Washington Wilkes Country Club. Donations are sorely needed for the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration, Barnett said. "If we don't get more money, we're in danger of not being able to have fireworks - and we can't let that happen." Barnett also announced that Lafayette Manor Inn's food had earned a three-diamond rating from AAA. In other business, the Council approved an extension of a temporary mobile home permit on the Bradley property on Lexington Avenue. Closing the meeting, Mayor Burns referred to a two-page letter he had written in response to a paragraph in "The Office Cat" column in The News-Reporter complaining of automated phone calls coming from the city. "If the calls were annoying, I don't apologize," he said. "I take it personally because a relative of mine died alone."
The calls were an effort to reach out to elderly Washington citizens with a program called Safety Check. The calls offered a daily check-up service for elderly living alone, he said, and 139 seniors had signed up. The city approved the program in March, and the city will pay for the service through Family Connection.
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