The Stockbridge City Council has taken action to stem what many see as a rising tide of dollar stores in the city as well as increasing problems with renters of AirBnB and other short-term rentals in Stockbridge.
The council voted 4-0 at its July 8 regular meeting to pass an amendment to the zoning ordinance regulating “small box discount stores.” Such stores are defined in the resolution as having a floor area less than 12,000 square feet, primarily offering a combination of convenience shopping and consumer shopping goods, while continuous advertising items for sale at under $10. The measure does not apply to drug stores or convenience stores attached to gas stations.
Any new small discount store in the city must be located at least 5,280 feet (one mile) from every other such store inside or outside the city limits. The ordinance is directed mainly at stand-alone stores, not those in strip shopping centers.
Several citizens spoke during the public hearing leading up to the vote, none of whom spoke in opposition to the change.
As for the issue of short-term rentals, city officials said there has been a tendency of late for property owners to list their homes on platforms such as AirBnB and those homes are becoming a nuisance to the community in some cases with renters using them as “party houses.”
A check of AirBnB listings late last week showed a number of large homes in Stockbridge available for rent, marketing to families vacationing in the metro Atlanta area as well as people coming to the region for events such as the most recent Super Bowl, which was played in Atlanta.
One citizen who addressed the council during the public hearing is a board member of a local homeowners association and said that HOAs can maintain the outside portion of a property but cannot police what goes on inside. He also noted that in the case of his neighborhood it is not the residents who are causing problems but rather out-of-town visitors.
A resident of Windsong subdivision noted that one such house in her neighborhood is owned by an investment company based in Phoenix, Ariz. Renters at that location have caused parking problems, played music too loudly and shuttled people back and forth to Benchwarmers, a sports bar and grill on nearby Rock Quarry Road.
A long list of conditions for short-term renters was included in the amended ordinance, and all such rentals are subject to the city’s 8-percent hotel-motel tax.
In other business, Henry County elections superintendent Tina Lunsford gave the council an overview of the city’s current situation with regard to voting. Stockbridge now has 28,000 registered voters, she said, which is the highest total of any city in the county.
The city has nine polling locations for county elections with a single site identified for early voting. The spot for municipal elections is the Municipal Court building, and those who wish to vote in the SPLOST referendum in November along with races for open council seats will have to cast their ballots in two different locations.
Lunsford recommended the creation of additional voting precincts for the 2021 election cycle.
One election-related action taken by the council was the approval of a call for election with regard to the so-called “brunch bill” which would allow on-premises consumption of alcohol in city establishments as early as 11 a.m. every Sunday. A referendum on the issue will be placed on the November ballot.
