Two developers in the process of buying a vacant building at 45 South Main Street asked the Ellijay City Council to consider a parking variance for the property during a workshop that preceded an Aug. 16 council meeting at City Hall.
One of the developers, Lucy Small, of Morganton, described the burgundy red building, recognizable by its three extended archways facing South Main Street, as “possibly the ugliest, most neglected building in downtown Ellijay.”
“We’d love to turn it into a beautiful and historic spot,” she said.
Small was joined by her partner, Carl Bledsoe, a commercial and residential builder based in Blairsville.
Bledsoe told councilmembers that the interior of the building is unsafe, and there’s nothing he and Small can do, from a development standpoint, to bring it back up to code.
He said their goal is to work with the local historic preservation commission in finding “the best way to pull the building down and salvage any historic features,” then construct a new building on the lot.
That building would include commercial and retail space on the lower level and high-end residential space on top, Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe told Mayor Al Hoyle and councilmembers Sandy Ott, Tom Crawford, Kevin Pritchett, Katie Lancey and Al Fuller that it’s impossible to create the number of parkings spots required for such a structure on the premises.
He and Small asked the council to consider reducing the number of required parking spots per unit from two to one so their project can move forward.
A parking lot adjacent to the property is owned and used by Ellijay Good Samaritan Catholic Church. Small said she and Bledsoe have “tried to work with the surrounding property owners, which are Good Samaritan Church and Lee Sutton,” but nothing has come of it.
“It is within their right to not have any interest to work with us, and that is the response we’ve gotten,” she said.
The two said they’re also looking at building some type of parking garage to accommodate the building.
“The way we’re going to do the parking is do partial underground, partial above ground and (use) the main area for retail. We’re going to drop down 5 feet, move all the water out from underground, build that out and set the building on top of it,” said Bledsoe.
The building is currently “under contract,” Bledsoe noted. Hoyle told the two he’s happy that someone is looking at doing something with the property, but he wasn’t sure they could submit an application until they physically own it.
Bledsoe said they would be able to get the current owner to sign off on it, and Hoyle asked the two to reach back out after that’s been done.
The red building, listed on county records as built in 1943, has previously housed upstairs apartments and several businesses through the years, including Whitaker’s Grocery and the Century 21 real estate office of Bob and Melinda Hadden.
Melinda Hadden said architect Jack Frye owned the building in the 1970s and put a stucco finish on the outside to give it a more contemporary look that was popular then. Signage for two past business tenants, Whatchawana and Green Willow Soap, still adorn the back and front areas of the building.
Small said she and Bledsoe are “in a nice position where pretty much anything we can put there will be an improvement.”
“We want to do something the city is really going to enjoy,” she told the council.
In other news ...
﹣ Councilmembers appointed Sandra Sales Ellijay’s new elections superintendent. Hoyle said previous elections superintendent, Gary Watkins, had been increasingly assigning election duties to Sales prior to resigning.
﹣ A separate bank account was approved for American Rescue Plan funds received by the city. Hoyle said having a separate account is a requirement for the COVID-19 relief funds.
﹣ Reece Sanford was appointed to serve on the Gilmer County Library Board. He will serve out the remaining term of resigning library board member Amy Sanford, which ends June 30, 2023.
﹣ Matt Bidwell, of MSI Benefits Group, a company that handles insurance benefits for about 60 Georgia governments, gave a presentation to the council and Hoyle about the city’s health insurance coverage for the coming year.
Bidwell said the city has been offered renewed employee coverage by GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) at no increase for the third year in a row.