The East Ellijay City Council and Mayor Mack West remain unchanged in their decision to not give road access to a subdivision being planned off Progress Road.
West and councilmembers previously reviewed plans for the Gilmer Village subdivision in July. At that meeting, West said the city wouldn’t give access to Mountain View Drive, one of two roads needed for entering and exiting the planned subdivision.
The other entrance/exit road, Progress Road, is property of the City of Ellijay, while the land for the subdivision is within the county.
At a city council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 25, West reviewed the stance already taken by East Ellijay on the road access request and added that, until conditions already given to the developer by the county commissioners are met, there’s no need to vote.
“I think the ball’s in the county’s court. Or we can just flat turn it down,” he told councilmembers Don Callihan, Linda Smith and Ed Forrester.
The commissioners have decided they won’t approve rezoning the almost 25 acres from R1 (single family residential) to R5 (high density multifamily residential) unless two entrances/exits from one or more public roads can be established, and the developer, Integrity Development Group, funds installation of a right turn lane on Coosawattee Drive as proposed by a traffic study.
“If the county’s not going to change the zoning until those things are done, there’s no need to (vote),” said Callihan.
The Ellijay City Council has also added its own conditions for approving the requested access to Progress Road.
Those conditions include several conditions already set by the city’s planning commission including putting an accel/decel lane at the entrance to Progress Road and an accel/decel and turn lane at the intersection of Progress Road and Coosawattee Drive, among others. The Ellijay council also decided that the developer will first have to obtain permission from East Ellijay to use Mountain View Drive.
“If you’re putting more traffic on 515, you’re just asking for trouble,” West said. “My concern is the pedestrian traffic. (With) all those people at work, school kids are going to come in and they’re going to head right to that shopping center. They’re going to walk or ride a bicycle. Without a red light there, we’re just asking for trouble.”
Police Chief Larry Callahan agreed. “People can’t cross it (Highway 515) now without taking their life in their own hands,” he said.
In other news …
In his report to the council, Callahan said East Ellijay might have to increase pay for police officers in order to hire new employees.
“Right now, the county is hiring essentially kids out of high school to work at the jail making almost what we’re trying to pay police officers. It’s just not a career anybody wants right now. It’s strictly supply and demand. There’s not much supply, but there’s a whole lot of demand,” Callahan said.