Ellijay City Council-members heard comments from a North Avenue resident about the busy downtown Ellijay street needing to become a one-way, while also discussing changes to a pending cryptomining ordinance, when meeting Monday, July 15.
North Avenue resident Jerry Davis spoke to the council about the street, on which residents and nonresidents park their vehicles, and how many accidents have occurred there.
“In just a short little while, we’ve had five vehicles of homeowners on our street be hit. The last one to be hit was my own personal car that was totaled. My car was side swiped another time. My wife’s vehicle has been side swiped. My next door neighbor’s van has been side swiped. It’s beginning to border on negligence,” he said.
“We’re coming up now on school traffic, and North Avenue is the parking spot for people to stop and walk and drop their kids off. You can pull up, and you can’t even park in front of your own house.”
Davis said the way vehicles have to come head to head and weave in and out of the two lanes just doesn’t work.
“At our end of the street, we have speeders galore,” he said.
Councilmembers have previously discussed North Avenue becoming a one-way street, but have not taken any action on the matter.
“It has to stop. There’s some solution out there. You found one for River Street, and I’m begging y’all to come up with something,” Davis said.
In other news ...
A second reading had been scheduled for an ordinance governing cryptomining, data processing centers and related businesses, but the ordinance was retooled after changes were recommended by the city planning commission. Because of the additions, a first reading of the retooled ordinance was given at the meeting.
The recommended changes include: cryptomining zoned at I2 (general commercial) with conditional use, 1,000-foot front, side and rear setbacks, data processing having the same requirements as cryptomining and a waste management plan for any wastewater and technology waste products.
All the recommendations were added, except the 1,000-foot setbacks, which, instead, will be set at 200 feet.