The Cornelia City Commission this week turned down a request by a Cornelia property owner and developer to build a package store next to the old Waffle House on Level Grove Road.
Property owner Chee Wong had sought to subdivide his property at 1292 Level Grove Road so a package store could be built next to the vape shop he runs in the old restaurant. Wong and developer James Irvin of Foothills Land Engineering had asked the Cornelia City Commission for a conditional use permit. On August 2, the commission denied their request following two public hearings.
The decision came down to distance. According to the city, the proposed package store would have been located 542 feet from the Level Grove Baptist Church campus. Since the church runs a pre-school, city officials say the property constitutes school grounds. The city’s alcohol ordinance prohibits package stores within 600 feet of any “school building, educational grounds or college campus, day care facility, or alcoholic treatment facility.”
Level Grove Pastor Brian James spoke against the development in July. Area residents Stanley and Stewart Brooks did too. They told the city commission they get enough “riff-raff” on their property from the nearby convenience store. James was the only community member to address the issue during the August 2 commission meeting. He explained that the school has been operating at the church for approximately 15 years and serves approximately 120 children. The school operates between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. on weekdays, according to its website.
Pastor James clarified it is not a daycare but a pre-school because they have to follow an approved curriculum just like a regular school. He maintained his opposition to the liquor store “based on the ordinance of school grounds.”
Commissioner Mark Reed asked James, “So do you consider the entire church property from the ballfields down at your youth house all the way to the cemetery as being school grounds?”
“When school’s in session they use all of it,” James responded, referring to the church campus which extends from Level Grove Road to US 441. “We use all parking lots, they’re in playgrounds in different places. They use different buildings for different things at different times, so yeah, any more than any public school would consider all of their campus a school ground whether they’re having school at that moment or not.”
After no one else stepped forward to address the matter, Borrow closed the public hearing. Reed made the motion to deny the conditional use application and rezoning. Commissioner Don Bagwell seconded it. Commissioners Reed, Bagwell, and Janice Griggs voted to deny the request and Commissioner Tony Cook abstained.
At least one liquor store has already opened in Cornelia since city voters overwhelmingly passed a package sales referendum in November. A state law granting municipalities the right to call liquor referendums made it easier to get them on the ballot. Previously, liquor referendums could only be called through citizen-led petition drives.
In other business…
In other business during the August 2 Cornelia City Commission meeting, city manager Dee Anderson gave his monthly report about the services provided for the month of July. Some of the highlights of the report discussed ongoing projects that were nearing completion or have been completed.
The Chenocetah Retaining Wall Project was nearing completion and Anderson said he is pleased with the appearance of how the project made that part of the city look.
The city completed its conversion to a new utility billing software called SmartFusion. With any software conversion, there will be issues and, he says, they experienced some. These included a delay in billing by a week and the online payment service went down for a few days. However, both issues have been resolved, Anderson says, and the software appears to be working properly.
Another important highlight in the City Manager’s report was that the Census Bureau was in receipt of the city’s request to recalculate the city’s population. The request is based on a discrepancy between the Census Bureau’s housing count compared to the housing count that city records show. The Georgia Mountain Regional Commission and Habersham County’s GIS department will be supplying reports that the Census Bureau has requested to move forward with the city’s request.
During the Public Forum portion of the meeting, city resident Brenda Jonas spoke to the commission about not changing the uniqueness of the city by allowing apartments to be built. She said she understood that this issue would have to go before the Planning Board but requested that the Commission consider her request should the issue come before them for a vote.
Commissioners reviewed the 2021 Community Development Block Grant bid results. Anderson stated that they received two bids. Higgins Construction was the low bidder on this project at $834,495. Sloop and Carter reviewed the bids and recommended awarding the project to Higgins Construction. Anderson pointed out that the city has a $750,000 federal grant and a $75,000 Northeast Georgia Housing Authority grant for this project. With those grants, he said the city was getting an $834,495 project at a cost of $9,495. Mayor Borrow wanted to clarify that the city was getting an $834,000 project and the citizens of Cornelia were on the hook for $10,000. Anderson responded…”for less than $10,000.” The Commission approved the bid proposal.
The Commission moved to bids for Sanitation Service. Anderson stated that they had received three bids to provide residential sanitation service to the city. FCS Sanitation out of Toccoa was the low bidder at $13.35 per resident per month. The contract is for one year and automatically renews each year up to five years with an “out clause” stating that the city can get out of the contract in 90 days or FCS Sanitation can get out in 90 days. The Commission approved the FCS Sanitation bid. This approval privatized the city’s residential sanitation service.
The Commission moved on to the Controlled Access to the Public Restrooms. Anderson addressed the Commission about issues that the city is having with its public restrooms. He stated the restrooms are being vandalized and homeless people are living in them. The city spends thousands of dollars repairing these facilities. He stated that police officers have started locking the facilities at night and Public Works personnel unlock them in the morning. Anderson said the city has received a quote from Omega Technology Group to provide data and controlled access locks for all of the public restrooms. Once the project is complete, the city would be able to install surveillance cameras outside those facilities. The quote was for $23,422 and Anderson recommended the city use ARPA Funds to pay for this project. The Commission approved moving forward with this project.
Commissioners also discussed the Chenocetah and Berry Street projects. Anderson wanted to clarify that these were actually two separate projects and that he wanted to amend the budget to have them completed. Carter and Sloop received quotes from Higgins Construction to rectify these drainage issues since they were working on a project in the area. For the Berry Steet portion of the project, the quote was for $67,191.50. This quote is for removing the rip-rap rock and re-grading the area to add a shoulder and a concrete flume.
The Chenocetah portion of the project was quoted for $17,100 and would add a concrete flume on the water tank side where a new drainage pipe has been installed. Both projects would cost $84,291.50. Anderson recommended both items be paid for out of the city’s Stormwater Utility Fund. The motion was made to approve these projects and it passed unanimously.
