GAINESVILLE – Couches on porches, blue-tarp garage doors and plywood-covered windows will soon be a thing of the past within the city limits of Gainesville if the city council approves recommended amendments to the Unified Development Land Code (ULDC) Tuesday evening.
Community Development Director Rusty Ligon spoke to the city council at its work session Thursday morning about the need to amend the code and create code where none exists.
“For about a year or two we’ve been working on this,” Ligon explained after the work session. “As we began our housing sweep throughout the city we started noticing some items we wanted to address and clean up but we couldn’t because it wasn’t in our code.”
Items being added to the ULDC include:
-Having a Registered Agent for multi-family properties.
“It’s really just a fancy term for having a point of contact,” City Planning Manager Matt Tate explained. “We define ‘multi-family-property’ as six or more units on a single property. This would not impact single family residential homes or small rental situations.”
Ligon added, “It’s important that we’re able to find somebody if there’s a violation on a property, we need to be able to get to somebody pretty quickly.”
Tate said the registered agent information would be required each year when the rental property owner applied for or renewed their business license. The change won’t be implemented until calendar year 2019.
-Regulating outdoor furniture.
Only furniture fabricated with materials appropriate to be maintained outside of a dwelling shall be permitted in an exterior area of a property.
“At times you’ve probably seen a couch or something out on a front porch,” Tate said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge issue… this would impact, basically, furniture that is intended to be for indoor use.”
The ordinance would apply to all sides of a residence, including back porches.
Mayor Danny Dunagan said, “The only time we’re going to the back of a house is if we get a complaint.”-
-Limiting plastic or impervious covers.
“This is a situation we see a little more often than we like,” Tate said. “And a lot of times what’s behind the tarp leads to bigger issues.”
Tate and Ligon said using tarps to cover new damage to a residence was allowable but a time limit would become part of the repair process where tarps were needed.
“A tarp is just not a long-term solution for anything,” Ligon said. “The impact it can have on the neighborhood is not good.”
Tate said, “Typically now they’re used for garage doors…they’ll just roll it down, roll it back up, to cover whatever is in there.”
-Boarding up structures.
“This is something that we currently do not regulate,” Ligon said.
“What we are proposing is that you have to obtain a ‘Boarding-Up Permit’, which is free, no fee involved,” Ligon added. “It lets us know the length of time you plan to have it boarded up…we’re going to allow you to have six months… with a potential one-time renewal for a total of a year.”
“We do know of some that have been boarded-up for several years and it’s time that we address it,” Ligon said.
Ligon and Tate agreed that a peripheral advantage of having the property registered as “Boarded-Up” will be to let law enforcement know that the property is uninhabited.
-Community Donation Boxes and Inoperable Accessory Items.
In the ordinance it shall be unlawful to erect or maintain community donation boxes unless:
• Located in Light Industrial (L-I) or Heavy Industrial (H-I) zoning district
• Located on the same property as an organization with a 501(c)(3) designation
• Where allowed, shall be located flush against a building wall
• Inoperable accessory items such as telephone booths, electrical wires, poles, magazine and newspaper stands, etc. are not permitted and shall be removed
Ligon said these items have a unique way of attracting trash and other litter. “They attract garbage because people want to throw everything in there, not just clothes.”
“At times there are mounds of furniture and all sorts (of things),” Tate said. “This is an effort, not just in our Gateway Corridors…to improve the aesthetic appearance of our gateways and other areas as well.”
“We’ll work with property owners to make them aware of the new code and give them approximately sixty days to address any existing violations,” Ligon said. “We’ll be contacting them directly; we’ll try to see if they are at home…or we’ll leave them a note that’ll point out what those violations are.
The ordinance amending the ULDC will be voted on Tuesday evening, August 7th, at 5:30 p.m. in the Gainesville Public Safety Complex on Queen City Parkway.
REZONING REQUEST FOR MASONIC LODGE PROPERTY WITHDRAWN
City Attorney Abb Hayes said REB Land Development’s request to rezone 2.744-acres at the intersection of Dawsonville Highway and Lakeshore Drive (site of the Gainesville Masonic Lodge for over fifty years) has been withdrawn by the applicant.
Applicant Rock Baker had received a unanimous recommendation for approval with conditions from the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board last month. Reasons for his withdrawal request were not available.
City leaders have asked local media outlets to inform the public of this action as they have received many emails, texts, and telephone calls regarding the scheduled public hearing for the application on Tuesday evening.
