The Blue Ridge Downtown Development Authority (DDA) hosted the City Council in a joint meeting Monday, March 1, in order to bring the council up to date on their workings and purpose.
In Section 4 of the DDA’s Bylaws, it states that the DDA and council must meet at the first meeting of each calendar year.
The DDA and council attempted to meet last month but were unable to do so as the city did not publish their own agenda in order to hold a quorum at the meeting.
Addressing questions of the DDA’s authority, DDA Chairman Cesar Martinez said, “Really nothing that we do is binding to the city or to the city council.”
It was also noted that any decisions made on behalf of the DDA must later be approved by the council in order to go into effect.
In explaining the roles of the various committees of the DDA, Design Director Nichole Potzauf said their goals were to create design guidelines, or an ordinance, for the Central Business District (CBD), maintain a business directory, preserve and highlight historical sites, and obtain and post way-finding signage for parking.
“We really need to start thinking about the master plan of our community, the look of our community, and be able to control that in a way that is clean, classic and who we are,” Potzauf said.
After hearing Potzauf’s ideas, Councilwoman Rhonda Haight said, “Well, the beauty of it is that you guys definitely know what you’re doing, so that’s wonderful.”
Discussing the Parking Committee, Martinez explained that he has taken over as the director, but they are in need of someone else to fill that role.
Anyone interested in taking on that role or getting involved in the DDA may contact Blue Ridge City Hall at 706-632-2091.
He noted that a parking garage, which will have nearly 200 parking spaces, will be complete this Spring, but “there’s more parking that’s going to be needed as the city begins to grow.
“In terms of parking, I don’t think we can afford not to spend money on it.”
Of parking, Councilman Mike Panter said, “Who’s it a issue for? Is it a issue for the 1,200 citizens who live in the city within a 2.3-mile radius that can walk downtown or is it a issue for our tourists that are coming into town?”
Haight said it was an issue for both, and Martinez said he doesn’t believe one is more important than the other.
Panter said that he doesn’t think one is more important than the other rather “I don’t think a 100 percent of our efforts can be, and all of our revenue, can be spent on parking.”
City Councilman and DDA Vice Chairman Nathan Fitts countered that argument by saying parking sustains itself, and Haight claimed that the city is making between $16,000 to $20,000 a month from paid parking.
Panter then said that employees and business owners parking at their store fronts is an issue.
From the audience, John Soave referenced an ordinance of another city that banned business owners and employees from parking in front of their businesses.
Amidst talk of purchasing the “Pack Property” behind Fannin County Co-Op, Fitts said that the whole goal of paid parking was to have parking pay for itself, and that has been accomplished.
“Parking is paying for itself because we have free land that is actually bringing us revenue in,” Mayor Donna Whitener said. “There’s no debt right now on that property. That’s why you have the revenue because you’re not paying any of it out.”
Haight disagreed with Whitener’s statements.
“There’s a reason you decided to elect us,” DDA Secretary and Treasurer Jay Hamilton said. “Let us do our job, and let us work together to get this done.”
Russell Black was introduced as the newly-appointed Economic Development Committee director, which is responsible for bringing in new businesses to the CBD and working with the Georgia Cities Foundation to help entrepreneurs obtain low interest rate loans, among other tasks.
The Community Outreach Committee is also in need of a director, and the responsibility of the committee is to communicate the DDA’s workings with the public and council, Martinez said.
When asked by Martinez if the council had suggestions for improving communication, Haight suggested communicating through Planning, Project and Zoning Manager Jeff Stewart.
Whitener said that, at one point, the council had asked the DDA for a list of things for the council to address and never received one.
Martinez and Potzauf agreed that they had not because they were not yet prepared to present any plans.
Martinez told the council that moving forward they all need to communicate and work with one another.
“We can’t be two separate organizations going after the same thing,” Martinez said. “We need to be together. If it’s something, if it’s a project we’re working on with the city, then we need to be involved in that, and I know sometimes it gets hard to think of that.”
Fitts said he has expressed this concern with his fellow council members in the past.