By Barbara Augsdorfer, Editor for the Effingham Herald

It’s no secret that Effingham County is booming with growth. But how that growth is being implemented and managed has all the makings of the kerfuffle – with developers and city codes on one side and residents on the other.

In Rincon, developers petition for rezoning or variances, and residents have also petitioned for rezoning and variances to existing zoning laws, to the point where one councilman asked for a moratorium on these actions.

After asking for residents’ input via the city’s website and also by paper, the Guyton City Council placed a 90-day moratorium on allowing mobile homes in the city – and specifically the placing of mobile homes within the city’s historic district -- at its April 11 meeting.

Residents have addressed the Effingham County Board of Commissioners at recent meetings regarding proposed construction that adversely affects current traffic patterns; and may put too much of a strain on water, utilities, and sewer services.

On social media, residents have created neighborhood pages to vent and urge as many neighbors as possible to attend and speak at municipal and county meetings.

At the Rincon City Council meeting on April 10, the city council eventually tabled a request by Salvador Figueroa for a variance on a constructed fence on his property on Ninth Street. The issue is the fence’s location – beyond the front setback. The other issue is how Figueroa situated his house so even though it has a Ninth Street address, it doesn’t face Ninth Street. The council conceded the fence is “beautiful” but it’s just in the wrong place according to the city ordinance.

“The law is very clear. The ordinance is very clear,” said Melissa Calhoun of Rincon, who spoke in opposition to Figueroa’s fence. “You have to abide by that or there has to be a hardship. Well, if you create the hardship, you are in fact asking not for permission, but you're asking for forgiveness.”

The council discussed the fence issue for more than 90 minutes before tabling the issue until the meeting on April 24 to allow the council to look at other options.

Councilmember Michelle Taylor also asked the council about the pallet fence another resident on Ninth Street has on their property, asking, “Will these people be grandfathered in with the pallet fence? In our thing (ordinance) it says, ‘no scrap material’ and a pallet is scrap material.”

To that issue, the city council must come up with a definition of scrap material, and go from there, according to Jonathan Lynn, Rincon city manager, since there is currently no definition of scrap material on the city’s ordinances.

“Whether you like it or not, I don't like it. It is a permitted fence. We cannot take (it down),” Lynn said.

“Well, my property value just dropped $30,000 because of that pallet fence,” retorted Taylor.

In other action, the Rincon City Council denied a motion to rezone 19 acres on Fort Howard Road from R4 to R5 to allow a developer to increase the density of proposed single-family homes. Lawrence Alexander Homes, LLC, had proposed building 38 homes if zoned R5, but can still build 35 homes if the zoning remains at R4.

The constant rezoning requests bothered at least one councilmember.

“We’re dancing. We’re bouncing. We’ve got to stop here now. I think we need to have a sit-down meeting with the planning board and discuss some of these issues,” said Councilmember Levi Scott. “I'm believing that we need to set a moratorium in place now to stop these zoning changes. Because everybody wants to make a dollar now.”

He added that developers come to council meetings to request zoning changes, rather than the council keeping “his foot to the fire. We’re not changing it.”

City Attorney Raymond Dickey explained to the council that issuing a moratorium doesn’t mean that something would be completely stopped or prohibited, but that there needs to be set time limit to the moratorium and a study done during that time before moving forward.

To this Mayor Ken Lee suggested that the city’s new community and planning development director, Teri Lewis, could look at the situation with “a fresh set of eyes.”

“I'd like to see Ms. Lewis bring us back some recommendations about what she thinks we need to do to proceed in reviewing, changing our ordinances and our processes,” Mayor Lee said. “Based on what I've seen, she's going to have some pretty good ideas and recommendations. So I'd like to hear that from her. She's the expert that are going to tell us what we need to do.”

“I'd be happy to do that,” Lewis replied.

The next Rincon City Council meeting is 7 p.m., April 24, at 107 W. 17th St., Rincon.

Preserving Guyton’s Historic District

In Guyton, the issue is mobile homes within the city and what prompted the current discussion was a mobile home recently being installed with the city’s historic district.

As a point of introduction and clarification, Guyton City Manager Meketa Brown said, “We got (calls) to City Hall. People in the historic district asking questions and right now, if you don't have the moratorium, the zoning says if it's an R1, the mobile home will go there.” She added that a concerned resident added, “Once you lose that historic integrity, it’s gone.”

After some discussion, the council came to the consensus that the city is not going to ban mobile homes, but just wants to step back and determine where the mobile homes should be placed within the city.

The council also stated any homeowners with homes or other buildings within the historic district should apply be registered as historic homes, which would help preserve the area as a historic site. According to the National Register of Historic Places, only the Guyton Historic District and the New Hope AME Church on Alexander Street are currently registered.

The Guyton City Council will discuss the moratorium on mobile homes at its workshop on April 26.

In other action, the Guyton City Council moved forward with the next step in selling the property at 718 Central Ave. Prior to the vote, Mayor Russ Deen said, “One of the things that is different in terms of the title that needs to be mentioned (is it) requires a 20-year hold on this public property. So we would have to own this property for at least 20 years. We cannot resell it as commercial. It will have to be used for public use.”

The next Guyton City Council meeting is 7 p.m. on May 9, at the Guyton Gym, 505 Magnolia St., Guyton.