Maysville leaders object to preservation ordinance

“There are parts in there that I don’t agree with,” Hardy said, during the council’s work session last Thursday. He went on to describe a hypothetical situation in which a person buys a property unaware of the ordinance and is somehow punished for making exterior design changes because of such a law.

“They might not be able to do that because of what’s written in that ordinance,” Hardy said. “I don’t agree with that.”

Harper echoed Hardy’s concern, adding that such a law could divide Maysville residents and prompt complaints to the council. He questioned the committee’s chairwoman Tammy Bennett on the issue of enforcement, in particular.

She said that enforcement would be up to the council to determine based on whatever design guidelines it approved. Bennett stressed that the committee’s main function would be to support the city’s historic character through education and, if possible, actual preservation projects.

“(The committee is) more of a help. Because at the end of the day, historical towns really preserve an area and help (them) grow,” she said. “The more embraced it is the better the town, community and surrounding areas become.”

A survey of what is considered historic or not in Maysville is the committee’s first aim after any ordinance is passed, Bennett said. Completing such a survey is a step that can lead to grants, she added. Tax incentives for property owners are also an advantage, should such a preservation movement take root in Maysville.

The vocal councilmen focusd mainly on the subject of enforcement, however.

“Eventually there could be enforcement,” Harper said. “That is a quick way to tear this town apart.”

They asked about changes to the ordinance, which the committee expected, Bennett said. Neither side offered specifics on what those changes should be, however, and instead referenced Chip Wright, regional planner with the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission.

Wright was consulted during the Maysville committee’s review of several different ordinances from cities around Georgia, Bennett said, adding that the city’s group chose one of the mildest.

Anticipating questions about the proposed ordinance filed to council a couple of months ago, Bennett and the council invited Wright to the work session last Thursday. He did not attend. The council agreed it wants to question Wright during one of its work sessions and scheduled him for May 22.

Bennett’s request for an earlier meeting was denied. That means a vote on any ordinance — which must follow public hearings, advertisements and reviews — will be pushed back months.

She said her hope was to learn from Wright the most basic ordinance language that would suffice as law enough to allow the committee to exist and work, officially.

“We left (the ordinance) very basic so we could get feedback,” Bennett said. “We’re not enforcement. We’re just there to try to get a better attitude about the history of the town.”