A local developer and downtown business owner urged the City of Ellijay to better maintain its trees and shrubbery during public comments at an Aug. 15 city council meeting.
Paul King, owner of the recently renovated retail space on North Avenue formerly known as “the Old Hotel,” said he wants to put care and maintenance of the city’s trees and wooden shrubs on the radar of Mayor Al Hoyle and councilmembers Sandy Ott, Tom Crawford, Kevin Pritchett, Katie Lancey and Al Fuller.
“I have a lot of concern about the wrong trees in the wrong places. Many of them are overgrown,” King said. “There are trees that need to be removed and replaced with appropriate trees.”
King said some of those trees obstruct businesses in which merchants have invested a lot of money, but they can’t do anything with the trees. One example is in front of his North Avenue property, he said.
“It’s a totally misshapen tree. It has a dead top and just sits there,” he said.
King also asked the city to keep a more attentive eye on the condition of downtown’s storefronts.
“People have businesses here with licenses, and they let their signs rot off the building. Is there some kind of code or statute that would require the city to address that when it looks so bad?” he said.
“You’ve got people investing a lot of money in these commercial buildings, and you’ve got others that don’t do anything.”
King said he has a background in commercial and residential site development, as well as landscaping, and would be willing to pitch in.
“There’s got to be a way we can work together on this ... to hopefully improve the overall momentum that Ellijay currently has. It’s a beautiful little town, but it could look better. I know we have a tight maintenance budget and ya’ll have a lot to do, but there’s got to be a way we can stay on top of some of this,” he added.
No response or questions were offered by the mayor or councilmembers, which is not uncommon for public comment portions of city council meetings.
In other news..
﹣ Councilmembers approved the following items:
﹣ Formation of the city’s Harrison Park Board, which will oversee matters related to the downtown walking park. It will consist of councilmembers Pritchett and Crawford, as well as Gilmer Chamber representative Caitlin Neal.
﹣ David Tuffin to serve on the Housing Authority Board for a five-year term ending in 2027. He will fill a seat previously held by Larry Adams, whose term recently expired.
﹣ Transmittal of the updated Capital Improvements Element for Gilmer County and Cities of Ellijay and East Ellijay to the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission. The Georgia Planning Act of 1989 requires local governments that levy impact fees to update their community work programs, capital improvement elements (including current and proposed water authority projects and impact fee data) each year.