Cannon Rd. Redistricting Gets Yes, No Votes

CLEVELAND, Ga. — The White County Board of Commissioners unanimously rejected a request by Mark Byrd to redistrict 3.056 acres of land at 36 Cannon Road from C1 Community Commercial District to C2 Highway Business District after hearing strong objection from Pat Cannon, whose family has owned much of the surrounding property for years.

Speaking on behalf of his father, Cannon said, “We’ve raised questions about the property line. This is not a public road. It has never been a public road and my dad has maintained that road since 1956. My cousin owns property next door, so do my uncles so this is not something we take lightly. Trying to justify going from one classification to another classification violates all norms of planning I know about. Clearly the county’s own C1 classification clearly states that no structure shall exceed 20,000 square feet. It also talks about C2 zoning being more for regional development.”

Commissioners did approve zoning the front 1.82 acres of Byrd’s land from C2 to C1, which is what they say it should have been from the beginning. Byrd requested the redistricting to accommodate expansion of his mini-storage business.

Following the public hearing, commissioners went into a work session and called meeting where they approved:

• The application for the 2018 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for the funding of the multi-jurisdictional drug task force;
• A 2018 Memorandum of Understanding for the operation of the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office;
• The bid from MSI Employee Benefit Services to continue to administer the employee benefit program;
• The lease document for a 2017 Kenworth 4,000-gallon pumper/tanker at 2.36 percent interest rate;
• Replacement of aging information technology equipment at a cost of $40,350;
• Leasing tower space at the county’s Long Mountain Tower Site to WRWH Radio;
• An addendum to the contract with Legacy Link for the nutrition program services at White County Senior Center;
• A bid from United Community Bank, the high bidder, for two certificates of deposit at a rate of .43 percent;
• Appointment of Chairman Travis Turner as the county’s voting delegate to the ACCG Legislative Leadership Conference.

A request by the Northeast Georgia Veterans Society to fund and erect a statute of the late Private Rondall Glaze was withdrawn and a request by Sheriff Neal Walden to present information on recommended improvements to the county courthouse was postponed.