Politics & Government

Council Moves Forward with Rezoning, Annexation and Demolition Plans

Hot-button issues drew a crowd to the first city council meeting of 2011.

The Norcross City Council voted on many agenda items last night—and citizens spoke up about the issue of historic preservation, drawing the meeting out to over an hour.

Ultimately, the rezoning of land at Cemetery and College Sts., a proposed annexation into the city and the demolition of three city-owned properties were all voted forward. The council will hear public comment on the 155 Cemetery St. and 183 Bostic St. property and give a six-month window before demolition.

The mayor later said that the Jones St. demolition decision was more immediate because of plans to beautify the area with mostly state money. The city has already spent $200,000 on the project, and the state will kick in $800,000 more if the structure is torn down, allowing the proper right-of-ways to be acquired, according to Mayor Bucky Johnson. 

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The first item open for discussion was the rezoning of land at the corner of College St and Cemetery St. Skip Nau gave a presentation with early plans for a development of row houses on the corner property, which he owns.  Nau asked that the land to be rezoned for detached residential housing or row houses. 

The plans included two eventualities, one in which Nau develops only the land he currently owns and one in which he develops land all the way to Buford Hwy, including the city land on which the demolition of two structures was being considered. The council approved the rezoning 5-0.  

Find out what's happening in Norcrosswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The next hot-button issue was the proposed annexation of land into the City of Norcross along Mitchell Rd. The measure was already open for public input, so the council members did the majority of the speaking about the issue.

“My concern is that we are revenue neutral,” said Council Member Craig Newton, who spoke up about the county doing their part to fix existing problems in the area before the city inherits the area—along with the price tag of bringing it up to speed.  He said he just wanted to be sure that the annexation would not cost the city money.

Newton said he has already made some progress in speaking with county officials concerning streets and roads and that he wanted more information before making a definitive move.

Mayor Pro Tem Ross Kaul reiterated his earlier sentiment that the annexation would be revenue neutral: He said money was built into the plan for resurfacing streets and other problems that are a direct result of the other members called “benign neglect” of the area.

Council Member Andrew Hixson also spoke up on the annexation issue, pointing out that “the residents  [of the proposed annexed area] are excited that we’ll be improving their quality of life.”

Ultimately, the movement to send the annexation on to the next step was approved 3-2, with David McLeroy and Newton voting against the measure.

The issue of a 9-1-1 call number in Norcross was shelved, and the earlier action for one-way streets around Webb Field was reconsidered. The council moved against one-way streets around the park without comment.

The issue of the proposed demolition of three buildings in the historic area drew the most comments from the public, with many speaking their piece about what they thought could and should be done, before the council moved 5-0 to go forward with the plans. The structure at 54 Jones St. will be up for public comment in March, and the other two structures will be open for public comment at an undecided date. 

Pierre Levy voiced strong words against the demolition. “How long are you going to chip away?” he said. “The council has never rejected one demolition proposal.” He reminded council members of the fledgling Historic Preservation Council—and said that other historic downtowns have boomed after becoming historic districts.

Chuck Cimarik offered a picture of the state of the home at 155 Cemetery St., saying that from his first look at the property, he could tell that there was significant damage—broken windows, missing fixtures and potential termites—but that it was in better shape than a few investment properties that he had seen. “I think that tearing it down because it is a threat to safety is a little misleading,” he said.  

Connie Weathers said she wanted to know what the city plan was before they made the demolition final. She also said that turning the 54 Jones St. building into a parking lot was not favorable in her mind. "Converting prime real estate into a parking lot is a bad idea for the city," she said. 

Ultimately, the mayor and council agreed to leave a six-month window open to see what interest exists for the properties and to give the public time to comment.

Mayor Bucky Johnson later said that he expected the impassioned input, but that he thinks that the issue of historic preservation should be viewed in context. “People say its either black or white,” he said. “They don’t take the whole picture into consideration.”

Patch will be following up on these issues in the near future. 


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