Oakwood City Council approved the first reading of the millage rate and approved rezoning requests at its meeting Monday evening.
The millage rate will remain at 4.174 mills, and due to the tax digest it qualifies as a tax increase, according to City Manager Stan Brown
Brown said there was very little input at the three public hearings for the millage rate. "We didn't have any response at all to the public hearings, which is not too uncommon when your rate is remaining the same, it doesn't have a big impact."
A called meeting will be held Monday at 6 p.m. for the final reading
Before the millage rate was read, council held three public hearings on rezoning. First, Casey Proctor applied for an annexation as well as a rezoning of a 0.63 acre parcel of land on McEver Road near West Hall High School at 5504 Westbrook Lane. Proctor wanted to change the parcel from agriculture residential to office professional, and find a small business like a CPA, attorney or private tutor to fill the space. Hall County did not object to the annexation, no one spoke in favor or opposition and the application, ordinance and application was approved.
James Prather Jr. applied to rezoning a 1.82 acre lot on 3634 Old Oakwood Road from neighborhood business to C-2 highway business for a used car lot. His daughter, Pamela Prather, spoke on his behalf. She said they only planned to have a few cars there at a time for transaction purposes. No one spoke in favor or in opposition and the council approved the request.
After some conversation, the council approved a rezoning request from Rosario Ramos de Rodriguez. Rodriguez owns three parcels of land on Nellie Drive and wanted to rezone the final 0.19 acre parcel on 4430 Nellie Drive to match the parcels he already had for a business and apartments.
"That would allow some neighborhood scale type development there," said Brown after the meeting.
After speculation about what business would take the space, one person opposed, who lives in the area on Nelly Drive, and discussion about how if that parcel should be rezoned to business the whole road should be considered for business, surveyor Keith Kilby explained the business component would face Thurmon Tanner Parkway and the residential component would face Nellie Drive, with no entry to each other on the opposite roads. He also said Rodriguez was considering a restaurant or two, and not a taxi cab service like some had thought.
Lastly the council unanimously approved an amendment to the Lake Lanier Convention and Visitors Bureau that modified the current agreement to allows the bureau to plan and organize certain events including Christmas in the Park and another event in the spring.
