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PAGE 8A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. TULY 30. 2008
'Unique' Exception Proposed To
Allow Mobile Home To Be Replaced
City Council To Rule On Hardship Case Aug. 11
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce Planning Com
mission believes it has found a
“unique” way to allow a disabled
Harris Street resident to replace a
mobile home on his property.
The planning commission voted
unanimously Monday night to
recommend that the city council
approve the request of Tommy
Smallwood to rezone a lot from
R-3 to R-5 (residential-mobile
home) so Smallwood can install a
handicap-accessible trailer on the
property for his aged father, Jerry
Smallwood.
The new mobile home will re
place one put on the lot in 1968
but which has been vacant for 15
years.
Smallwood said his father, now
living in an adjacent house, “wants
a place of his own.” He is disabled
from a staph infection, Smallwood
explained, and requires consider
able assistance to live.
“We ain’t rich folks. We can’t
afford a new house or nothing,”
Smallwood explained, as his
wheelchair-bound father watched.
“That’s why I’m here.”
The city’s practice in the past has
been to prohibit the replacement
of mobile homes when they’re
nonconforming uses.
Chairman Greg Perry, attempt
ing to avoid setting a precedent,
framed a motion pointing out that
in addition to the medical hard
ship, the trailer will not be visible
from Ila Road or South Broad
Street Extension and that it re
places an existing mobile home.
The possibility of creating a
precedent was demonstrated im
mediately, when Nancy Sommers,
Jerry Smallwood’s sister, popped
up before the planners could vote
on the matter for her brother, and
indicated she wanted the same
consideration.
According to Sommers, she’d
made application to put a double
wide mobile home on a lot next
door at 160 Harris Street in 2002,
only to have the city reject her
proposal.
“I was wondering if we could do
that now,” she said.
“So, you want the same thing
your brother got?” Perry asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Perry asked if her lot would also
not be visible from Ila Road, and
she replied affirmatively.
He advised her to go back
through the rezoning process.
“The good news is we got dif
ferent people now. You may get a
different result,” he said, adding,
“If your situation is similar to your
brother’s it would appear you are
entitled to the same result as your
brother.”
The city council will make the
final call on the request at its Aug.
11 meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the
Commerce Room of the Com
merce Civic Center.
The planners also gave a thumbs-
up recommendation to Tommy
Smallwood’s other request, which
was to rezone a lot from C-2 (light
commercial) to R-5 (residential-
mobile home) for the renovation
of a long-vacant house he had
given to his son.
The planners agreed to recom
mend a change to R-3 instead,
which would prohibit the location
of a mobile home.
In other matters, the commis
sion tabled a request by Keith
Whitfield for a conditional use
permit to establish a recycling
station on U.S. 441 below Ingles
because Whitfield was unable to
attend the meeting to explain his
plans.
One matter of concern for the
planning commission appeared
to be the extent to which the busi
ness — which would collect scrap
metal for recycling — would be in
doors and out of sight.
Maysville DDA Focusing On Building Website
By Justin Poole
The Maysville Downtown Devel
opment Authority’s top priority is
a new city website that will serve
as the official web address for the
city.
Local web designer Pat Outcalt
will design the website.
According to DDA chairman,
Melody Standi, Outcalt has said
that making links to existing web
sites and linking to business in the
city should not be a problem. The
site will be hosted by Windstream
Communications and will provide
30 mailboxes for the city.
It is expected to be operational
in six weeks.
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Bowers Named To Panel
To Look At Legal Needs Of
Soldiers, Veterans, Families
Former Georgia
Attorney General
Michael J. Bowers
of Jackson County
has been appointed
as an advisor to a
special committee
charged with the
task of identifying
and addressing un
met legal needs of
the state’s military
service members,
reservists, veterans and their
families.
“The Pro Bono for Military
Veterans & Service Members
Committee is working hard
on the design of a comprehen
sive program that encourages
Georgia lawyers to stand in
the gap between legal services
available to on-duty military
personnel and unmet needs,”
State Bar President Jeffrey O.
Bramlett said.
The new, volunteer commit
tee comprises lawyers from
across Georgia, many of
whom have military experi
ence and interest in military
and veterans law.
“Georgia lawyers are grate
ful for the military service
of our troops and returning
veterans. This committee is
looking for ways lawyers can
personally and voluntarily
give of themselves
to eliminate the
gaps where service
members and veter
ans are not getting
the legal help they
need,” Bramlett add
ed. “We are inform
ing ourselves about
the complexities of
working across the
lines of the various
branches of the mili
tary service and the differing
needs of national guard, re
servists, and active duty per
sonnel. We are focused on
making the Georgia lawyers
who decide to participate in
this effort the best-trained
and best-prepared attorneys
in the United States to meet
these needs. The commit
tee is mindful that we have
before us an opportunity
for Georgia lawyers to say
thanks to our service mem
bers and veterans for all
they do, often at significant
personal sacrifice, to protect
our country.”
The State Bar of Georgia, cre
ated by order of the Supreme
Court of Georgia in 1964, is
a mandatory organization
composed of approximately
40,000 lawyers licensed to
practice law in Georgia.
Mike Bowers
'Natural Resource
Issues' To Be
Topic Of Meeting
In Winder Tues.
A meeting is scheduled for 9:30
a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, at the Oconee
River Soil and Water Conservation
District conference room, Lanthier
Street, Winder, to discuss Jackson
County natural resources issues.
Sponsored by the Oconee Riv
er Soil and Water Conservation
District, the meeting will provide
an opportunity for farmers and
other interested landowners and
land users to aid in determining
how federal program dollars may
be allocated to individual appli
cants farming in the Oconee River
SWCD.
The district is comprised of four
counties (Athens-Clarke, Barrow,
Jackson and Oconee), and one
meeting will be held to obtain
producer input with regards to re
source concerns in the four-coun
ty area.
For additional information and
directions to the meeting loca
tion, contact either Susan Peppers
at 770-307-3030 or Carol Boss at
706-335-7145, ext. 101.
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