The Ellijay Downtown Development Authority (DDA) heard a presentation from one of its members about possible cleanup areas in downtown Ellijay, as well as the need for more walkability downtown, as the DDA met last Tuesday.
Keith Nunn highlighted 10 areas, most of which are either in downtown Ellijay or within the city limits, needing improvement or cleanup.
“(These are) things that caught my eye and anybody could see if they rode around Ellijay,” he said.
Those areas include the long-vacant building on Industrial Boulevard that once housed the Piggly Wiggly and an old store directory sign for the Gilmer Shopping Center, Nunn told fellow DDA members Reece Sanford, Josh Moyers, Sarah Burnette and Ellen Grant. “Those stores have been out of business for a long time coming,” said Nunn.
Some of the downtown areas, Nunn said, are unkempt as far as not being weedeaten or tidied up. A dumpster area and unpaved parking lot between The Roof and the red building at the corner of South Main and Spring Street were given as examples. Some of the cleanup could be accomplished with weedeating or basic maintenance, Nunn noted.
“I don’t see why we can’t say, or have someone say, you can either clean it up, or we’ll do it for you and bill you. It’s your choice, but it’s got to be done. I just don’t like people to come to Ellijay and see this,” he added.
Nunn said he recently visited Park City, Utah, a good example of a clean, walkable downtown area that has regular outdoor events.
“In my opinion, this is what Ellijay could be or strive to be,” he said.
Some nearby cities like Jasper have recently made changes, such as approving the addition of more outdoor dining areas, Nunn noted.
“I know there’s a lot of politics and things that are involved to accomplish some of these things, but Jasper’s doing it. Blue Ridge is doing it. Why are we so far behind the times?,” he said.
Sanford, DDA chairman, agreed with the cleanup suggestions. Working toward getting those areas cleaned up is something that falls into the DDA’s purview, he noted.
“We’ve talked a lot about low-hanging and high-hanging fruit. I think there’s some low-hanging fruit here we can go after,” said Sanford.
“We’ve talked a lot about blight, but blight is often more real estate and structures that fall into disrepair. Blight is also (things like) just not weedeating. I think we can use this body to lean into that. We can even make recommendations about tweaking some of the code to improve it.”
Sanford noted that the aesthetics of downtown Ellijay have come a long way in the last 20 years, but there is still room for improvement.
The DDA recently started forming committees that also involve people outside the group’s board structure, and this could be a focus area for one of those committees, he added.