Toccoa City Commissioners vote, again, to move forward with downtown greenspace

Toccoa City commissioners, at last night’s called meeting, voted once again to move forward with the Tugalo Greenspace project. Commissioner Michelle Jamieson was the sole dissenting vote. 

Mayor Gail Fry opened the meeting before a meeting room packed to standing-room-only with more than 50 property and business owners from the downtown business district and citizens who attended the meeting.

Fry spoke of the commission’s efforts to balance serving the preferences of individuals, and fulfilling the mandate of their office to be good stewards of taxpayer monies, and talked about the concerns over this grant since day one, and the changes that had to be made in the scope of work.

Commissioner Terry Carter detailed the project aspects that still have funding concerns – an amount totaling $133,400 that he said included $37,800 in allowances, or contingency costs; $26,900 for the paving; $1,000 for additional gravel; $33,500 for the brick pavers and installation, $23,000 for the project management or administration fee, and a potential $11,200 for a drain.

Contingency costs, or allocations, when used in the context of project management, is an amount of money that may, or may not be needed, and is to be used to cover potential events as opposed to known and certain costs. 

Planning Director Jeremy Ward explained that several of those costs were already included in the budget by way of fund transfers and allocations approved by commissioners at the time of the commission’s vote to proceed with the project on Jan. 8 – including the $26,900 for paving, which commissioners approved at the previous meeting to be transferred from SPLOST funds. 

He explained that there is currently an additional $67,504 in projected revenue for the project, including an estimated $35,000 from the brick fundraiser and $32,504 in reallocated funds from within his department’s budget. He said, taking into account those revenues, and taking into account funding already budgeted or allocated by commissioners, all of the expenses listed by Carter, including $29,210.70 of the potential $37,800 in contingency costs, were already accounted for, and added that the amount of additional funding that may be required from the city – in the circumstance that every one of the contingency cost items were needed – would be limited to an additional $8,589.30.

Fry noted that, in addition to concerns over funding, the issue of downtown parking spaces was a concern.

Commissioner Ron Matheson stated that, following the Jan. 8 action by the Commission to move forward with the project, he had researched the parking issue and found that, instead of the loss of 43 parking spaces, the project would result in the loss of closer to 80 parking spaces, due to changes in the design of the project over the past two years.

Ward said that the Planning Department and Main Street Department have received overwhelming comments of public support for the project, and explained his concerns of the repercussions if the city did cancel the project now. 

He also detailed the current status of parking in downtown Toccoa.

Commissioners opened the meeting to public comment, and first to speak was Dillon Long, a local resident who is also a contractor performing some of the work on the project, and whose wife, Kaitlan Long, owns Downtown Flowers. He talked about the parking issue, and compared available parking in Toccoa to other communities.  

Long also said concerns over the presence of the homeless and crime in the greenspace would be mitigated by the lighting in the park, and would be unlikely to become an actual problem. 

Additional speakers added their comments in strong support of the greenspace, including the owners of Livingroom Roasters, Angel Oak Homes and Diamond Studios.

Commissioner Evan Hellenga asked if there were any business owners present who were not in favor of moving ahead with the project, and was met with silence as the audience showed their unanimous support for the greenspace project. 

Additional audience members spoke in favor of the greenspace, including Marilyn Hall, Angie Garland, Rebekah Gailer and Kaitlan Long.

Toccoa/Stephens County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Paysen then addressed the board in support of the Greenspace.

Following the public comment session, Fry and Carter spoke of other projects and obligations in the city that are upcoming and may require extensive and unexpected funding, explaining that the existence of those other financial concerns played a part in their hesitation in taking on the greenspace, with its associate uncertainties over possible cost overrides.

Hellenga made a motion to move forward, and the motion passed, with Jamieson not casting her vote for the motion, saying her original objections to the project still stand, and highlighting the other fiscal obligations the city is facing.

Matheson closed the meeting with several comments about the unity of the business community and how important that aspect was in moving the project forward. Fry added that without the overwhelming and unanimous support for the project shown at last night’s meeting, the commission would have certainly killed the project.

Following the meeting, WNEG News spoke with Ward, who said he was grateful for the commissioners for their leadership and vision, and encouraged community members to support the brick fundraiser once it begins. 

He also expressed appreciation for the downtown business community.