Planners nix smaller house plan

Maynard did not appear before the planning board Tuesday night.

During the citizen comment period, Winder resident Robert Lanham told the board he was “strongly opposed” to the ordinance change, which would result in “small cracker box houses” being built. He said he lives in a subdivision that is “90-95% built out” and he would “love to have somebody build homes on those (remaining empty) lots,” but he does not want “little bitty, dinky, tiny houses” built on the lots because they would decrease the value of his house and his neighborhood, he said.

Lanham told the board he “sympathizes with the plight of the building industry” and with the board in having to make difficult decisions because he sits on the Barrow County Planning Board. The Barrow County Builder’s Association requested that the county lower minimum new home sizes to 1,375 square feet earlier this year, but the Barrow County Board of Commissioners took no action.

Winder resident Troy Hensley, who is chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission and also serves as a member of Winder’s affordable housing initiative (Georgia Initiative for Community Housing) told the board he is “not as concerned” about minimum square footage as he is that Maynard’s request does not “have a proper in-fill ordinance with it.”

“It’s not about blanket square footage,” Hensley said, “it’s about being architecturally sound and fitting with the neighborhood.”

He also told the board that currently there are 1,300 empty lots in Barrow County already zoned for a minimum house size of 1,200 square feet, which should offer plenty of opportunity for builders who want to construct smaller homes.

Saying he is “absolutely opposed” to the proposed ordinance change, planning board member Jim Neu said, “We have an abundance of starter homes… that’s where we got off track.”

For more on this story, see the September 22 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition.