Tweaks and refinements were made this week to plans for the new Carbondale Business Park.
During a special called meeting, Whitfield County commissioners didn’t take action on major covenants for the business park, but discussions led to further refinement on some details, Chairman Mike Babb said.
Officials want to do more work on requirements such as limiting signs to 100 square feet, which seemed a bit small at just 10-feet-by-10-feet of space, Mr. Babb said.
“We’ll take action on the covenants at some later time,” he said.
Most of the covenants are much like those for a residential subdivision in that they deal with building heights and setbacks on properties, he said. Some of the details are “already on the books” for commercial planning, but the covenants will seek a “higher-end” look for the new business park, he said.
Commissioners also discussed condemnation proceedings on parcels owned by Luis and Berta Paniagua and to Wynette Gazaway, owner of the Gazaway Chevron station near the park. The private land is needed for a road into the park, Mr. Babb said.
The main hurdle is not acquisition, but a fair price that all parties can accept, he said.
Terry Gazaway, Ms. Gazaway’s son and manager of the Chevron, said the family still is waiting on an independent appraisal. He said his father, Jack, opened the station in 1966 and the family “has been hanging onto this land for a long time.”
The county wants about three-quarters of an acre of the family’s 1.75 acres, leaving the station building alone.
“It really affects us in a major way,” Mr. Gazaway said. The business can still operate, “but it makes it hard to expand.”
Real estate agent Fernando Paniagua said his parents have owned their property, about two-thirds of an acre with a house, for about 20 years.
An independent appraiser valued it at $152,000, he said. The county’s appraisal is $97,000, records show.
The independent valuation appraisal “was still less than what we wanted, but it was more than what they (the county) had appraised it at,” he said.
His family is awaiting the county’s next move, he said.
Mr. Babb said the county will probably end up letting the courts settle the price on both parcels, but added that no decisions are finalized at this point.