I have permission to use this letter to point out a problem many homeowners face when their neighborhood changes, and they run into a wall of bureaucracy and red tape. Richard (I’ve left off the details for his privacy) writes his local paper a letter:
August 23, 2013
Editor
Statesboro Herald
1 Proctor Street.
Statesboro, GA 30458
cc: City Council
re: zoning decision
The City Council has made a decision about the zoning of the three properties on the corner of Herty and Fair Road, as is their right. I understand the concerns of the residents of this area, though I don’t’ agree with their reasoning. There are too many examples of businesses placed on locations near or on the edge of residential neighborhoods that have had no negative effects on the neighborhoods. Be that as it may, I accept the decision of the Council with disappointment, but without anger .
I do have major concerns about the kind of publicity and reasoning that have been published by the Herald and brought up in Council discussion.
It was pointed out that the owners of the property are “absentee landlords,” implying that we/they bought the properties as an investment, implying something nefarious on our parts. Notwithstanding the fact that any landlord who does not live on the premises is “absentee,” this absentee landlord is seventy nine years old, and I lived in the Catherine Ave. house for thirty five of those seventy nine years I think it is clear that I did not have a desire to sell it for commercial use when I bought it. The first thirty of those years were quite wonderful for my wife, myself, and our six children, but the last five were quite difficult. People were parking in my yard for graduation, ball games and other events. My yard had become a shortcut to the campus, and anything left in the yard (including the blueberries and blackberries, pears and peaches growing at the edge of the property) was subject to misappropriation (call it theft).
My neuropathy had become enough of a problem that, after my children moved away for college, graduate school, military service and marriage, I was having difficulty maintaining the property. (If it were not for a young parolee from some kind of incarceration who dropped by one day and asked if he could mow my lawn or wash my car, and continued to come by once or twice a week to help me for four of the last five years, my place would have become a real mess. I was glad for him to get a job at Claxton Poultry, but it created difficulties for me.) Finally, I decided to try to sell the property, but as family housing, it was unmarketable. After finding another house further from the property, I rented the place to students and became an “absentee landlord”
One of the “absentee landlords,” identified as a corporation, is not a landlord at all, it is the Salvation Army. Before buying the location, they polled the entire neighborhood to see if there was any opposition to their object to build a Salvation Army facility. Finding little opposition, even when they held a public meeting to get response, with the encouragement of city officials they bought the property. When a building permit was requested, a meeting was held, THEN, the objectors from the neighborhood showed up, the permit was disapproved, and for sixteen years they have been stuck with an unusable and unmarketable piece of land.
At this time, thanks to the procrastination of the city council, postponing their decision till after the “renting period” had expired seems almost deliberate. Judging from the cheering from the members of the Council and the unanimous vote of all members, including those who had voiced support up to the moment, it was a decision that appeared to have been made at the first meeting, or before, and then postponed for no reason except public relations. As a result, I have missed the period wherein student rentals are available (August 1) so that the robust rental market mentioned in the resolution printed in the Herald and part of the negative resolution passed by the council no longer exists, at least for me and Dr. Hood.
I am pretty sure that the current Council recognizes the inevitability of this area becoming commercial, as did Marvin Pittman, or his agents who submitted the original plat to the city wherein all of the properties concerned were zoned commercial. I am not sure when this zoning was changed, or when it will be changed back, but it is as inevitable as death and taxes.
As for me, I am very concerned about getting it rented, because, if I can’t, I may end up losing it to a foreclosed mortgage.
Thank you for your time
Richard
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment