The majority of a divided Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission decided a 95-year-old Macon woman can’t continue to skirt historic district guidelines, a ruling contrary to the wishes of the Design Review Board.
About 27 years ago, according to testimony given by a friend, Paula East replaced historic windows with vinyl ones in her 1860 slate row house at 931 Walnut St. and reconfigured the six-over-six design of the panes. The work was done without the required certificate of appropriateness and in violation of regulations, according to documents filed with Monday’s application.
A recent complaint about the windows brought the matter to P&Z’s attention.
East’s friends appealed for mercy, considering her age, health considerations and the dancer’s contributions to the community over several decades.
“It would not be in her best interest to undergo major construction work inside the home,” a letter of support stated. “At 95 years old, exposure to dust and disruption from such work could potentially aggravate respiratory insufficiencies and pose unnecessary health risks.”
On May 4, the review board voted to allow the vinyl windows to stay for now, noting the replacement occurred more than two decades ago and removal at this time is not reasonable.
Any future work on the home would need to meet historic district guidelines, including future window replacements.
Monday, in the commission’s administrative meeting, Chair Jeane Easom questioned the review board’s proposed exception.
P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri explained that the review board considered it was more than two decades since the violation occurred. He noted that some other states limit the time period that someone could be held responsible for earlier violations. In his prior position in North Carolina, Ruggieri could not enforce violations more than four years old.
In the Walnut Street case, East’s neighbor Edwin Atkins appealed to P&Z to enforce historic district regulations on the property..
“My concern is that the visual beauty and historic elements of the 1860 slate row homes are protected. That’s it,” Atkins told commissioners. “I urge the board not to allow incorrect or incompatible window designs to diminish the authenticity, reduce the real estate values and establish a precedent for the future owners.”
P&Z Vice Chair Tim Jones moved to deny the application that would have allowed East to keep those windows until they needed to be replaced.
“I’m not going to let her situation influence me, her age and everything,” Jones said. “I know what we’ve been doing about windows and we’re enforcing the regulation.”
Easom also said East’s community service does not change the legal parameters she should follow for her property.
“While she may be 95 years old, when she installed those windows she was not and she knew what she was doing,” Easom said. “And she defied the recommendation of the planning and zoning at that time, and so we take great offense to that, or at least I do.”
P&Z plans to notify East that she has up to 60 days to bring the windows into historic district guidelines or face possible legal action, fines or jail time.
Restaurants, business and industry
At 1014 Gray Highway, commissioners approved a new Jack in the Box restaurant in the old Hardee’s. Exterior renovations and color changes will match other Jack in the Box locations and the dining room and customer service area will be more than 930 square feet with 15 tables seating 53 people.
The old Kinjo Kitchen + Cocktails at 497 Second St. also is getting a new look with a green striped awning for Wes Griffith’s new Andalusia restaurant at the corner of Poplar Street.
Commissioners also approved a new awning and signage for Gilmer Warehouse & Logistics’ new location at 598 Third St. The company’s logo and name will be spelled out on yellow panels connecting vertically along the Plum Street edge of the building.
At 2228 Anthony Road, P&Z granted permission for upgrades to the Tom Fontaine Sports Complex that is used by the Boys & Girls Club of Central Georgia and Macon’s RBI program, which stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities. Carter Engineering Group, on behalf of Macon RBI, secured approval for a 320-square-foot storage container to be converted into a concession stand and two restrooms, a corresponding sanitary sewer line, three new 1,400-square-foot batting cages, two ADA-compliant, off-street parking spaces, and new sidewalks.
At 2255 Barnes Ferry Road. P&Z approved Prince Services & Manufacturing’s plans for a new 610,000-square foot, 82-foot tall manufacturing facility with 200 welding stations and 22 overhead bridge cranes.
The plant will be built on about 30 acres and will include 475 parking spaces.
Because of the massive building, the Middle Georgia Regional Commission reviewed the project as a Development of Regional Impact and advised P&Z they could proceed with the conditional use approval.
Autozone plans to build a new regional hub in the old Gold Cup Bowling Alley location at 3710, 3710 Pio Nono Ave. on two parcels totaling 3.37 acres. Autozone will remodel the existing nearly 29,000-square-foot building and expects to employ up to 60 people to run the store, which will also stock merchandise and parts to serve other Middle Georgia locations.
Other agenda items
- 1400 Bass Road — P&Z approved Rowland Engineering’s final plans for an office park now consisting of an 8,000-square-foot building flanked by a 3,000-square-foot building on either side. The combination of brick, stone, and stucco materials will complement existing businesses in this development next to Providence Boulevard.
- 4031 Cavalier Drive — P&Z approved revised plans for two warehouses divided by a 3,000-square-foot loading dock on nearly two acres. The building on the northern side of the site will be 14,850 square feet and the other warehouse will be 14,400 square feet.
- 2641 Stanislaus Plaza — Michael Jamison received a certificate of appropriateness to brick in a triangular side porch on his home.
- 1276 Riverside Drive — Conditional use granted for a warehouse and storage building that Paul Nelson was previously operating without a permit.
- 3495 Riggins Mill Road — Nickia Rigby secured approval for a personal care home on a 0.71-acre parcel at the corner of Dorothy Drive. Rigby plans a 6,050-square foot, 25-bed “licensed patient care home” for those who need assistance with daily living.
- 1930 Griffin Road — P&Z granted a variance for a fence to be located 1.5 feet from the right-of-way line.
- 990 W Richmond St. — Fence variance request deferred to May 26 to allow for county engineers to evaluate.
- 212 Peninsula Ave. — Mitchell Turner received a variance for the back height of his home that is higher than the maximum of 35 feet due to the sloping backyard.
- 139 Myrick Drive — P&Z approved Benjamin Wilton’s requested variance to allow for an accessory building to be built on the concrete slab poured by the previous owner, who had secured a variance in 2021, but did not construct the building.
- 452, 458, 466, 470 Holloway and 2633 Cason streets are In P&Z’s latest batch of old light manufacturing parcels that staff is converting to residential zoning. Commissioners also approved rezoning lots at, 2620 Peacock and 472, 480 Holloway streets and 481, 473, 467, 461, 453 Pittman Street. Recent changes in regulations now prohibit residential uses in manufacturing zones and these lots are no longer viable as sites for manufacturing.
- April 27 agenda highlights
- 480, 472, 466 Pittman, 2665 Cason streets — P&Z staff also rezoned from light manufacturing to residential these parcels on Pittman and Cason streets and additional lots at 487, 479, 475, 459, 453 Spikes St. and 2884, 2872, 2862 and 2848 Antioch Road
- 164 Oak Haven Ave. — Certificate of appropriateness issued for Matthew Anderson’s new deck.
- 124 Carolina Ave. — Jessica Carroll’s exterior modifications to the house and fence approved.
- 1620 Bass Road — Georgia Farm Bureau was granted a variance and conditional use approval for a multi-message billboard. Although the proposed site along Interstate 75 is within the minimum 5,000 foot radius from other digital billboards along Bass Road, P&Z staff concluded the other billboards were not visible from the highway.
- 248 Mercer Junction — P&Z approved Rowland Engineering’s rezoning request for about 2.5 acres from Planned Development Mixed Use to M-2 Heavy Industrial to allow for construction of a 43,750-square-foot industrial building for a warehouse or logistics terminal.
Ruggieri noted the June 8 meeting has been canceled but those agenda items will be heard June 22.
“Our newspaper of record neglected to post our agenda. We submitted it to them in time. They have acknowledged that they made a mistake, but we would not be able to hold a meeting on June 8 because it would be an illegal meeting, essentially, because we didn’t meet our notice requirements,” he said.
The next hearings will be held on Tuesday, May 26, due to the Memorial Day holiday.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
