BOC to hear builders' request for smaller homes; will also discuss county finances

The agenda for the April 26 meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners is short, but each issue coming to the table is politically loaded.

At the top of the agenda is a financial presentation by CFO Rose Kisaalita, who will provide year-to-date FY2011 numbers that midway through the current fiscal year show a widening gap between revenue collections and expenditures.

In addition, the president of the Barrow County Builders Association will present a request for the BOC to immediately reduce from 1,600 to 1,400 square feet the minimum square footage of one-third of the dwellings built in new neighborhoods.

The BOC has appointed a citizens committee to review the entire Unified Development Code, but BCBA president Tony Trusty apparently plans to ask the board to go ahead and approve the smaller square footage provision.

A March 27 letter from Sarah Norman, the executive officer of the BCBA, is in the meeting packet. In the letter, she explains that the UDC committee’s review could take many months and “right now we need to focus on a resolution that will have an immediate impact on the housing crisis in Barrow County.”

The letter notes that the biggest cost factor in a new home is its square footage.

“If we can minimize the required square footage for a residential home, we can provide home ownership to a larger number of citizens,” the letter states.

According to the 2010 U.S. census, Barrow County last year had 26,400 residential dwellings, and 2,429 were vacant.

BOC Chairman Danny Yearwood is on the agenda to present four other items: water rates, airport, minimum acreage for conservation use and Mancini audit.

Comments

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#1 wow on 04/25/11 at 02:05 PM [Reply]

hey thats just what barrow needs more starter homes. its working so well now, why not.

#2 Anonymous on 04/25/11 at 02:13 PM [Reply]

Smaller square footage will solve the housing "housing crisis in Barrow County” Why pretend to build houses at all, just fill the place up with double wides. The housing crisis in Barrow will be solved when the county attracts more then fast food / retail jobs. 900 foot closets will only increase population density. Increase demand for county services, schools and the traffic shuffling through Winder to work some place else.

#3 anonie mouse on 04/25/11 at 02:51 PM [Reply]

No! No! No! We already have enough cheaply built, crackerbox housing in Barrow County! This is a terrible idea and if the BOC approves this it will prove, beyond a doubt, that they truly are as incompetent as people are saying.
Besides that, the county is already flooded with foreclosure properties, with more coming each month. You probably can't even build a house, no matter how tiny, for what you can pay for a decent foreclosure property, so what would be the point?
Just say NO! This is a stupid idea!

#4 Me on 04/25/11 at 03:23 PM [Reply]

I sincerely hope that the BOC does not really consider this proposal.

#5 E. Prewitt on 04/25/11 at 03:40 PM [Reply]

What business is it of the county what size homes are built? It's funny how the crowd that screams against the government, against government spending, against government meddling in private enterprise suddenly becomes pro activist-government -- when it gores their ox. Situational libertarians? NIMBY idiots?
Or just plain tea-tard hypocrites.

#5.1 Proud Right Winger on 04/25/11 at 06:26 PM [Reply]

Before you spew all this left wing, cool aid drinking, thinking, let me remind you of something. Mr. Clinton and Barney Franks had a law passed in his second term forcing the banks to start giving the now bad loans. The banks were FORCED to give loans knowing they would be bad. Freddy and Fanny had to give these loans. Now big ears has tried to give all this money to fix the banks losing their money. Hows that working for most people in foreclosure? Don't blame this on Bush or the left wing. Clinton/Franks/Obama has this around their necks. I know you will fire back some left wing spill ... Democrats always scare people that the sky is falling ... but before you do at least look it up and get the correct information before you start screaming, spitting and crying about the right wing. The right wing has created a lots of problems themselves ... I will give you that ... but not this crisis.

#6 nope on 04/25/11 at 03:50 PM [Reply]

We have a huge inventory of low end houses and builders think they can jumpstart construction with 1400 sq ft homes?

1600 sq ft is quite reasonable.

Hope our commissioners recognize that this will not help the county.

#7 libertarian on 04/25/11 at 03:57 PM [Reply]

Well, Prewitt, if you haven't used up all your intelligence on invectives, it costs money to provide services to residents. The BOE is the one who should be screaming about the crackerbox house sizes, since they lose big money on every one, on average.

A minimum house size is a perfectly legitimate exercise of the police power of the state.

Make us proud, BOC, tell the builder's lobby, "No thanks."

#8 Victor on 04/25/11 at 09:43 PM [Reply]

Sarah Norman is obviously an idiot. There are hundreds of foreclosures for sale right now in Barrow County that would make excellent opportunities for home "ownership to a larger number of citizens”. The housing market will not improve until the number of repossessed homes is significantly reduced.

#9 Fortitude on 04/25/11 at 10:37 PM [Reply]

BOC better not vote for it and dont forget to include an Impact Fee. More houses equals more people and our infrastructure (schools,public safety and roads) cannot handle it at this point.
Make them build 2000+sqft houses and then you will get quality people who will pay taxes, not a bunch of renters and empty houses

#10 DuWayne R. Anderson on 04/27/11 at 06:26 AM [Reply]

1400 sq.ft. houses??? Really? Outside of the builder, who benefits from this grand idea? Prices for foreclosure houses in Barrow have already depressed prices and property values to historicly low levels, and yet very few are buying even the cheapest foreclosure houses.

If we can't even sell a foreclosure house at 1600 sq. ft.for a price that is LOWER than anything you could build new, at 1400 sq. ft,please explain why this is s good idea for anyone besides the builder.

Another point that needs to be addressed, is the visual conditions of all the "new" subs that have mostly foreclosures in them. The original builders have done little to make these eye sores more attractive to potential buyers.

Building new houses on top of the current list of foreclosuers we are already saddled with makes no sense. How about those same builers going back out in the community, and make all the foreclosures and the properties they sit on a little more attractive to potential buyers. Sell what you have first, then you can start talking about "new construction.........
DuWayne

#10.1 Karen on 05/03/11 at 06:56 PM [Reply]

Nothing to say about that comment but WELL SAID!!!

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BOC to hear builders' request for smaller homes; will also discuss county ...

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BOC to hear builders' request for smaller homes; will also discuss county finances

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