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Vol. 140 No. 27 24 Pages 2 Sections rpl WEDi 1/16 AUGUS1 Commerce News Wednesday AUGUST 24,2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Downtown pep rally is Thursday The Commerce Down town Development Authori- ty/Main Street program will hold its 39th annual Tigers on the Town Pep Rally on Thursday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. in Spencer Park. The event kicks off the 2016-17 high school athletic season and will take place the day before the Com merce Tigers open their 2016 football season at home against Banks County. The event will recognize the Commerce High School and Commerce Middle School cheerleaders and football teams, the CHS cross country teams, softball team and band. Rob Jordan, manager of WJJC Radio, will emcee the event. Several Tiger seniors will address the gathering — which usually fills Spencer Park — and the football play ers will help the cheerleaders lead a cheer. The Commerce High School Marching Tiger Band will provide the music for the occasion. In addition, twirlers from CHS and the Tigertown Twirlers will per form for the crowd. Parts of Little, Oak and Pine streets will be closed to vehicular traffic during the pep rally. The Commerce Booster Club will give away two sea son passes to all home reg ular-season athletic events during the pep rally and the DDA will raffle off a Commerce Tiger cornhole game. Tickets are $5 apiece and are available in local businesses. Trademark Medical Trans port will give out ice cream sandwiches and stickers. Contact Us •News: news@mainstreet- news.com, call 706-621-7238 Online B Follow us on Facebook by liking The Commerce News www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com INDEX Church News ....10A Classified Ads 6-7B Crime News 6-8A Obituaries 11A Opinion 4A School 9A Sports 1-4B Social News. 10-12B MAILING LABEL BELOW Game On: Tigers to host Leopards Fri. — Page IB An uptick in Commerce housing starts — Page 2A First sidewalk section poured Workers last Thursday poured the first section of the new sidewalk along Jefferson Road going from Commerce Middle School to Lakeview Drive. The $720,000 project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year and will link all of the Commerce schools by sidewalks. It includes curb and gutter installation along the road as well as landscaping. The heavy rain late last week overwhelmed a silt fence along part of the route and the contractor replaced it. City keeping an eye on crack in Oxford facade Public safety issue? Commerce officials are keeping an eye on a crack in the brick facade of the former Oxford building that could become a public safety issue. Submitted photo Commerce is keeping an eye on a widening crack in the front of the former Oxford building on State Street that suggests the brick facade could tumble onto the side walk. “We are keeping an eye on it,” advised city manager James Wascher. The city council authorized Wascher to have an architec tural evaluation done on the building, but that is on hold for the moment. A potential developer is looking at the site, and Wascher said the city will hold off on funding an architectural evaluation until it knows whether the developer is serious. “It’s hard to say if he’s seri ous,” he said. “We’ve had two or three people come by and look at it. It could be tire kick ing, it could be a serious look. A lot of people like to come by and look, then they’ll fol low up.” “We are still negotiating,” said Downtown Develop ment Authority executive director Natalie Thomas. “Things are looking up.” Thomas said she is also monitoring the crack. “It’s not growing too fast,” she assured. “This morning it looked the same as it did a couple of weeks ago.” The DDA made redevelop ment of the site its top priority for 2016, based on a concep tual drawing depicting the building transformed into a “boutique” hotel, with condo miniums. The DDA has indi cated it would virtually give the building to a developer committed to following the concept created by two Uni versity of Georgia graduate students. The DDA also reported enthusiasm for the site by offi cials from the Northeast Geor gia Regional Commission, who raised the possibility of tapping grant sources to help develop the project. Anyone considering devel oping the site would likely have an architectural evalua tion done before committing to the project, but Wascher indicated that the city will have one done “in the very near future” if the prospect decides not to take on the project. Should the city conclude that the building must come down, there is a longstand ing plan to convert the site to additional parking for the Commerce Civic Center. Planners OK 'clarification' of zoning regs New wording affects (but does not change) rules for 10 'nonconforming' mobile homes The Commerce Planning Commission took action Mon day night to clarify how mobile homes in areas not zoned for mobile homes will be treated and to update its zoning map for the first time since 2009. By a unanimous vote, the planners agreed to language proposed by city attorney John Stell in regard to 10 mobile homes currently occupied that are in areas not zoned for mobile homes. The language does not change how the mobile homes are treated. As “nonconforming uses” in areas not zoned for mobile homes, they continue to be accepted in those zones as long as they remain occupied with utility service. However, should they be vacant for more than six months or have their utility service shut off, they will no longer be permitted and must be removed. “I don’t see anything wrong with it,” said chairman Joe Leffew of the wording. “We’re just clarifying what we cur rently have. We’re not changing anything.” The wording affects mobile homes currently permitted as nonconforming uses. It does not suggest that similar uses will be approved in the future. “They are legal to live in, but once they’re vacant for six months or their utilities are cut off, they are no longer allowed,” explained planning director David Zellner. Map Update Also by a unanimous vote, the planning commission accepted amendments to its zoning map to reflect zoning changes and annexations that have occurred since 2009 — the last time the map was zoned. See “Zoning” on Page 3A Conference center being considered at Banks Crossing BY ANGELA GARY Banks County economic director Brad Day reported at the development author ity meeting last week that results are expected soon on a feasibility study on locating a conference cen ter at Banks Crossing. Day reported at the meet ing that the last study was done in 2006 and the deci sion was made at that time not to develop a conference center. He added that there are “hundreds more hotel rooms” at Banks Crossing now and that the hotel/ motel taxes collected have doubled. The conference center study will determine the market demand that exists for such a conference cen ter, as well as the number of new jobs, new payroll and local and state taxes gen erated by such an invest ment. The study will also include a look at possibly increasing the taxes paid by visitors to local hotels. These taxes could be used for the development of a conference center. Development authority chairman Scott Ledford said that the board will also consider the community need for a conference cen ter. Day added that some events can’t be held in the area because there isn’t a suitable venue available. Dr. Steve Morse, director and economist of the hospi tality and tourism program for the College of Business at Western Carolina Univer sity is doing the research study at a cost of $7,500. In particular the study will examine: • current hotel and lodg ing taxes in Banks County and the impact of chang ing these hotel taxes to increasing marginal levels from five percent to six per cent, seven percent and eight percent will have on hotel demand for rooms and tourism spending in the county. • examination of demand for a conference center in the area including compet itive factors of area confer ence centers, including a demand analysis for hotel room nights resulting from the conference center. •projections of the eco nomic impact of a new conference center in Banks County in terms of employ ees generated, employee paychecks generated and local and state taxes gen erated.