Jamie Jones, a loan officer with the Ag Georgia Farm Credit office, shakes the hand of Perry Mayor Jim Worrall during the Perry City Council meeting. Jones’ office was named “business of the month” f

Perry developers forced to PUD City council votes down new zoning district with smaller lot sizes By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer The Perry City Council has voted against creating a new zoning district – one that would have allowed residential developers to build more houses on smaller lots. With a housing boom already affecting the city and some 6,500 new residential lots already under development, the council agreed unanimously with the recommendations of the Perry Planning Commission. The city’s zoning laws don’t allow developers to divide their property into lots smaller than 9,000 square feet, but commissioners argued during a meeting late last month that one of the city’s zoning classes already does. The PUD, or planned unit development, allows developers to build smaller lots, but only with the commission’s recommendation and the city council’s approval. PUD zoning also requires developers to give something back, like parks, greenspace, or recreational areas. The idea of smaller lot sizes has been tossed around for years, but the council agreed that the PUD district is a proper compromise. The new zoning district was designed to counter the numerous recent PUD requests the city has received and would have allowed lot sizes as small as 5,000 square feet. Mike Beecham, Perry’s community planner, said that the city has annexed an average of 516 acres every year for the last five years, and more than 900 acres in the last two years. In 2003 alone, the city annexed 1,084 acres, including the 494-acre Houston Springs resort community near the Airport Road Extension. Also during this week’s meeting, the Perry City Council: • Recognized the Ag Georgia Farm Credit office on Macon Road, named “business of the month” for November by the Perry Beautification Commission. • Recognized the city’s downtown Garden Park, named “campus of the month” by the Perry Beautification Commission. • Congratulated Dr. and Mrs. Dudley Christie, who received “yard of the month” recognition for their home on Forest Hill Drive by the Perry Beautification Commission. • Introduced an ordinance to de-annex 1.028 acres on U.S. 41 near the Alpine Valley Home Park. William Hudson, who owns the property, had originally asked the city to annex the property because officials planned to build a gravity-controlled sewer line in the area. When the project collapsed, the cost of connecting the property to the city was estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000. The council is expected to vote on this issue at their next scheduled meeting Dec. 6. • Introduced an ordinance to rezone and annex 121.607 acres on U.S. 41 South near the Perry Parkway from Houston County residential and agricultural property to R-3, multi-family residential property. The Perry Planning Commission suggested during its meeting Oct. 24 building two 40-foot buffers along the east and west side of the property to prevent creating islands of Houston County land on two strips that run along I-75 and U.S. 41 South. A Byron man, Wendell Parker, plans to develop the property with homes. The council is expected to vote on this issue at their next scheduled meeting Dec. 6. • Introduced an ordinance to amend the Perry Land Development Ordinance to add a section that allows developers to post performance bonds and letters of credit to subdivide their property before they finish work on required improvements, like roads and sewer systems. The council is expected to vote on this issue at their next scheduled meeting Dec. 6. • Voted unanimously to amend the city’s zoning laws to allow local hotels, motels and self-storage warehouses to build small, connected homes on-site, a place where security guards, managers or even owners themselves can watch their property. The idea was supported by the Perry Planning Commission in late September, with the stipulation that the homes have to be connected to the hotel, motel or self-storage warehouse and that the homes match the facade of the existing building. • Voted unanimously to issue Scott Free a license to serve beer, wine and mixed drinks next year at Angelina’s Italian Garden Cafe on Sam Nunn Boulevard. His license approval, however, will depend on the results of a background check from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, required because Free applied for a license to serve mixed drinks. • Voted unanimously to continue allowing the Harveys Supermarket to use their liquor license to sell packaged beer now that the store is managed by Thomas Williamson Jr. • Allowed the Perry Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to use the city parking lot diagonally across from the New Perry Hotel for the Second Annual “Peaches to Beaches” Yard Sale, scheduled for March 10-12. Sheila Jones, executive director of the CVB, said in a letter to City Manager Lee Gilmour that the event promotes travel and tourism along the Golden Isles Parkway from Perry to Brunswick. The parking lot will be closed to city traffic from 5 p.m. Thursday, March 9 and reopened at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 12. • Agreed to pay Integrated Science and Engineering, based in Atlanta and Savannah, $9,027 for the lower portion of a study on the Perry Branch and its effect on stormwater drainage in the city. After heavy rains caused flooding problems throughout the city in late March and early April, the council decided to hire the company to find out what areas of the city flood, why, and what can be done about it. The total cost of the project was originally estimated to cost close to $66,000, but that figure may end up being around $58,000, paid for through the city’s portion of a 1-percent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) approved by Houston County voters in 2001. • Voted unanimously to cancel its Dec. 20 meeting. • Agreed to allow Perry Utilities Director Harold Deal to spend an additional $14,790 for the upgrade of the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Frank Satterfield Road, currently undergoing a multimillion-dollar upgrade to comply with state environmental standards. Most of this added will go to the cost of lengthening the retaining wall of a circular clarifier to fit the requirements of the equipment that will be installed inside, used to separate solid wastes in wastewater. • Councilman James Moore announced that the council’s public safety committee plans to hold a meeting Monday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. During that meeting, public safety officials plan to discuss buying a new command post vehicle for the Perry Fire and Police departments. • Perry Building Official Steve Howard said the city has issued 40 building permits this month, 130 new family homes have been built for the year, and 1,800 acres are in the process of being annexed into the city since July 1.