HIAWASSEE BUILDING AND PLANNING
COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, 6 PM Hiawassee City Hall – Council Chambers
50 River Street
Hiawassee, GA 30546
1. Call to order – Nancy Noblet
1.1 Invocation – Nancy Noblet
1.2 Pledge of Allegiance
1.3 Approve the Agenda as distributed
2. Motion to approve the minutes of the October 4, 2023, regarding the Commons at Lake Chatuge variance written decision
3. Open discussion
4. Adjournment
HIAWASSEE BUILDING AND PLANNING
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
The Hiawassee Building and Planning Committee meeting was held at City Hall in the Council Chambers on Wednesday November 8th, 2023. The meeting was open to the public. The meeting was called to order at 6:01pm by Chairperson Nancy Noblet.
Present in addition to the Chair were Committee members Ken Pollard, Paul Scherer and Matt Espalin. Committee member Jay Chastain attended via telephone. Staff present was City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick. Guests in attendance were Council member Anne Mitchell, Chip and Diane Jones, Ligia Gonzalez, Silvia Blanco, Tim Barrett and Brittany Holbrooks of the Towns County Herald.
Chairperson Nancy Noblet gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Motion to approve the agenda as distributed was made by Committee member Paul Scherer, seconded by Committee member Ken Pollard will all in favor.
Motion to approve the minutes of the October 4, 2023, regarding the Commons at Lake Chatuge variance written decision was made by Committee member Matt Espalin, seconded by Committee member Ken Pollard will all in favor.
Chairperson Nancy Noblet stated that because the committee can not meet as a group outside a meeting due to creating a quorum of the committee, she is going to have meetings so that open discussions can take place. This could be open permits or any questions or concerns that the public may have.
Committee member Paul Scherer stated the condos on the west side of town are going up quickly, will be quite large (3787 square feet) with elevators and docks. Eight in total (two buildings each with 4 units) will be for sale. Chairperson Nancy Noblet stated that the condos are on 2 acres of land, so they meet the guidelines of the Planning and Expansion document.
There is a structure going up behind the VFW – it will be a wood shop.
Construction has started on the second set of homes behind Aaron’s Automotive on the east side of town.
Chairperson Nancy Noblet stated that as members of the Planning Committee, we are City representatives and must conduct ourselves as such. All members must realize that what they say can reflect on the City. She went on to say that everyone makes mistakes and we are all human and that all need to learn from the mistakes made.
Chairperson Noblet then addressed the public and asked if anyone had any questions or concerns. Chip Jones asked if the committee approves commercial building as well as residential and yes, the committee does. Mr. Jones stated he would like to keep up with what is happening. It was suggested that he watch the bulletin boards at City Hall for meeting information.
Committee member Ken Pollard addressed the public and stated that if you see something and want to know if there is a permit, you can call City Hall and ask for Sheryl. If there is not a permit, she will notify the committee to follow up.
Chairperson Noblet described the building permit process for the citizens present. She said that 3 members of the planning committee will sign off on the permits – all of them review them, but only 3 signatures are required on the permit. When the committee members come to City Hall to sign the permits, they come in at different times to avoid a quorum.
Council member Anne Mitchell stated that Committee members, by virtue of being appointed by the Council, are established as virtual City officials and should not use the position as leverage. She is concerned that it may have happened and asked Committee member Paul Scherer if he had presented himself as a member of the Planning Committee when he spoke with the owners of Trailful indicating that he knew 3 members of the Council were not going to approve the loan for the Paris Business Center project and that the project was in fact out of funds. She read an excerpt from the letter written by the owners of Trailful and said that the behavior was inappropriate and had created a problem for the City. She asked if he would consider stepping down from the committee. Committee member Scherer said he would not. He stated that he needed to manage the building until it was sold and that he really wanted them to own the building as they are a great fit for the building and the community. Much discussion was had around the work done on the Trailful building. Committee member Pollard thanked Council member Mitchell for coming and speaking about Committee member Scherer, stated the Committee would use it as a learning experience and move forward. Committee member Espalin also stated he supported Committee member Scherer on the Committee.
Chairperson Noblet also told the citizens that the Committee reviews permits for buildings and mobile homes and that they must adhere to the ordinance and that modular homes are different than homes built on site.
Some discussions were outside the scope of the Building and Planning Committee.
Several members of the Committee stated that they serve on the Committee because they want to better the City. They want to hear the voices of the citizens and be able to refer them to appropriate people if they are not the correct ones and to help them if they are.
Motion to adjourn was made by Committee member Pollard, seconded by Committee member Scherer will all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 6:39pm.