June 17, 2021 PUBLIC HEARING
The City of Hiawassee will hold a public hearing on Fiiscal Year 2021-2022 Proposed Budget on May 24th at 6 PM. at City Hall in the upstairs training Room located at the 56th River Street. At this meeting the Mayor and Council will receive comments about the proposed budget. A copy of the Fiscal year 2021-2022
proposed budget is available for inspection during regular business hours at City Hall and is available at the City website www.hiawasseega.gov The of Hiawassee Mayor and Council are scheduled to adopt the FY 2021-2022 Budget at their meeting on June 1st at 6 PM at City Hall in the council chambers at 50 River Street.
The City of Hiawassee held a public hearing on the proposed changes to the Planning and Expansion ordinance on Thursday, June 17, 2021, at the Towns County Civic Center 67 Lakeview Circle at 6pm. Present were Council members Anne Mitchell, Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet and Amy Barrett, Mayor Liz Ordiales, Economic Development Director Denise McKay, City Attorney Thomas Mitchell, and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick. Council member Jay Chastain was absent.
June 17, 2021 PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES
Mayor Ordiales opened the meeting with thanks to all who are in attendance and announced that the Comprehensive Plan Update meeting will take place on June 29th, 2021, at the Towns County Rec Center beginning at 6pm.
Guidelines for the Public hearing were announced – state name and address; a maximum of 5 minutes per speaker. One time at the podium per person.
Dennis Koder – addressed the Council with concern around the density across the city – not this one area (Celtic Services Townhouses).
Lynn Whelchel – addressed the Council with concerns around losing Hiawassee’s small-town feel. Although she resides in the county, she works in the Hiawassee and agrees that there is a great need for housing and that people can’t work where there is no affordable housing.
Council member Nancy Noblet said that since COVID hit, there has been a severe shortage of workers because of federal aid. The motivation to work has been diminished. We do need more housing and prefer to see housing instead of storage units or boat storage.
Kalyn Nolan – addressed the Council stating his opinion that you will not get affordable housing unless you have density and that we need more people living here and not more storage units.
Darrell Barrett – addressed the Council stating that he had moved away to work and came back. He did not want to look at storage units.
Peggy Gardner – addressed the Council with concerns for green space. She states that green space is largely attributable to private owners and would be looking for green space to be addressed in the strategic plan. She was also concerned that the ordinance change is preceding the strategic plan.
Bob Dernehl – addressed the Council concerned with cheap/inferior housing.
Mayor Ordiales asked Mr. Aaron Lawson of Celtic Services to address some of the questions raised by the citizens. Mr. Lawson answered as many questions/concerns as he could remember – no trees would be removed as the lot was already devoid of trees – traffic pattern: if straight up the property would be limited to right in, right out, but there was another plan design which put the entry/exit further to the east on Route 76 and would not have that restriction due to better line of sight. Paul Scherer asked about Mr. Lawson’s intent will regard to the lower quadrants of the parcel, about the square footage of the townhomes and Mr. Lawson was also asked if they would rent the units. The design was not yet final, so no decision was made on the lower quadrants, the units are between 1900 and 2300 square feet and the decision and policing of the rent/own was up to the HOA. Initially, the sale would be to individuals and then would be turned over to the HOA after a number of units are sold.
Pat Tomlinson described the issue of traffic coming out of Longview and that sometimes it takes 5 – 10 minutes to get out onto Route 76.
Linda Barrett stated that you can’t stop progress, but the Council needs tight control and also agreed we are in need of affordable housing.
Asked about the Comprehensive plan, Mayor Ordiales replied that the Comprehensive plan is required every 10 years by the Department of Community Affairs, and we will begin the 5-year update this summer. Approximately 70% of the 10-year plan has been implemented already.
Tim Barrett mentioned that the planning ordinance was adopted 5 years ago. Planning committee consists of Josh Alexander, Bill “Scottie” Scott and Ken Pollard.
Dennis Koder stated that the planning ordinance was created to control density in the city and this proposed change is just the opposite.
Todd Turner as the listing real estate agent for the property provided some context. Current owners purchased the property before the ordinance was in place and have five lots for retail also for sale. There has been little interest in the retail lots, but the 5-acre tract has had potential car lots, storage units and car washes show interest. These ventures were abandoned largely due to a lack of workers in the area. A healthy real estate market has inventory at all levels of the market from the low end to the high end.
Maggie Oliver advised waiting to make this change and not rush the decision and also agreed that there is a need for affordable housing.
The City Council will attend a Zoning Class taught by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government on July 15th in order to educate themselves about zoning and how it works, benefits and drawbacks so that they can determine if it is time for Hiawassee to consider zone in the downtown area.
Corrina Luckenback stated that she had grown up in a townhouse as a member of a middle-class working family and felt the townhouses did not bring down the community, but rather built it up as a community in the townhouses.
Matthew Phillips stated he has lived here for 28 years and is finding there is nothing to buy or rent – we need housing, and we will need to deal with the traffic issues as we grow and as people are traveling to NC.
Beth Beasley expressed concern over the quality of life and the lack of green space.
Patsy Owens stated she had moved away for 40 years and when she and her husband retired in 2003, there was no housing available that they could afford. She would have bought a townhouse had it been available then. What is considered affordable is now in the neighborhood of $400k.
Amy Barrett stated that she and her husband also couldn’t find housing, so she took over part of retail space and made it into her home and is very happy and part of the community.
Anne Mitchell expressed the desire to have a plan and work from a plan instead of feeling like we are putting the cart before the horse. What do we really want in our city?
Mary Fletcher stated she was watching online but the audio was so bad that she came down to the meeting. Mayor Ordiales stated that the FaceBook Live feed was a courtesy as the meetings are now open to the public.
Matthew Gibson’s concern was the density and asked the Council to “go slowly” as they navigate these changes.
Nancy Noblet stated that we all won’t agree on everything and encouraged everyone to come to the meetings and be part of the conversation and let the council know what is important to you.
Mayor Ordiales encouraged the participants to attend the Monthly work sessions that take place the last Monday of the month, this will give them a greater view of the process in the city.
Meeting was adjourned 8:02 PM.