Commissioners are trying to make it easier for medium and high-density complexes to be built in Gilmer, addressing concerns over housing affordability.
The board voted to amend part of the Land Development Ordinance after holding a public hearing on Friday, April 11.
The amendment changes the wording for the county’s R-4 and R-5 zoning parameters. R-4 medium-density zoning now allows multifamily housing consisting of triplexes and quadplexes, only where municipal public water is available.
The county’s R-5 high-density zoning now allows housing consisting of apartments, condominiums and townhomes, where municipal public water and public sewage is available. The maximum dwelling density for R-5 is 10 units per acre, with a minimum size for development of 5 acres.
There were around two dozen people at the hearing in the Jury Assembly Room at the Gilmer County Courthouse. Three people spoke against the zoning changes, and two people spoke in favor of them.
Gilmer resident Doug Rink expressed his concerns with how high-density zoning would impact traffic along Highway 515.
“Our traffic is worse, our EMS and Fire struggle to keep up,” Rink said. “If we’re adding untold numbers of additional residents clustered together in the urban core, and Gilmer County as an unincorporated entity is deannexing properties out of the city, this is going to create an unfair burden on our emergency response.”
Those against zoning changes brought up their frustrations with the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing (GICH). Chairman Charlie Paris directed them to take up their concerns with GICH directly, separate from the board and their decision on zoning changes.
“A lot of us aren’t upset with duplexes or triplexes coming into the area,” Gilmer resident Diane Stromberger said. “It’s the fact that it’s been obscured from public knowledge. We are upset that we have not had any say in the process. We have not known about these meetings. We haven’t been able to attend.”
Commissioner Karleen Ferguson has received pushback from community members for her work with GICH. She stated at Friday’s meeting that she has no conflict of interest being on the board and is proud of the work she’s done.
“I ran on trying to work to find some answers to the trouble we have with affordable housing … This is important to the community,” she tearfully said. “It’s not a crime to be poor or to make less money.”
Ferguson later said, “When I decided to run for election again, I gave my word to the people that voted for me that I was going to look after them in all these areas. That’s why I came to David and asked for [these zoning changes]. This is one step to make things a little easier for some of our citizens to have a place to live.”
Matt Bond, co-owner of the Roof and other businesses in downtown Ellijay, has attended open-to-the-public GICH meetings. He said he was educated on housing options and was informed that less than 1 percent of the county can access sewer and water, which would be where high-density housing could go.
“These ordinance changes I think are necessary,” Bond said. “For affordable housing or density issues that we’re talking about, it’s really localized to a very specific area.”
Bond added that for his staff members, first responders, teachers and other members of the working class, they deserve to be able to spend their earnings on more than just high rent or mortgages.
Gilmer builder and developer John Jones added, “We’re the people that file the zoning applications and use the processes in place … I appreciate somebody being proactive … I’m excited to see that we’re looking at zoning changes, I think they’re long overdue.”
The final adoption of the amended ordinance will take place at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, May 8.