Two rezoning requests were approved by the McDonough City Council at its August 16 meeting.
A three-quarter-acre site at 38 Hampton Street is changing from office-institutional to neighborhood commercial. The building currently houses real estate and law offices as well as a roofing company and an insurance firm.
The request was made to give the applicant flexibility regarding future tenants. Some conditions recommended by city staff, such as an ADA-compliant ramp and handrails, will be addressed during the permitting process, according to officials. No one spoke for or against the request at the public hearing, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
A site measuring four-tenths of an acre at 177 Old Griffin Road was rezoned from single-family residential to central commercial. The request was to allow expansion of on-site inventory for the existing used car sales operation on the site, which also borders railroad tracks and is bisected by Racetrack Road. Among the conditions related to the new zoning are requirements that the applicant install professional fencing within 30 days and also address the needs of a neighbor’s driveway within a reasonable amount of time.
In other business, the $90,054 purchase of a new storage area network was approved by unanimous vote. The acquisition will be paid for with SPLOST funds.
According to officials, the six-year-old network attached storage units that have been used for offsite backup purposes are no longer dependable for nightly data backup, so the existing network will be moved to another location to serve that purpose once the new equipment is installed. This will create a disaster recovery element the city has not had in the past, officials said.
Several equipment purchases were approved by the council. Among them were a $61,057 expenditure for two 2022 vehicles for the police department, and $68,265 in equipment related to police in-vehicle cameras. Those will be funded by impact fees and the city’s general fund.
A $686,873 paving contract was approved, of which $238,661 will come from a state grant and the rest from the city’s SPLOST account. Also approved was the purchase of 100 meters by the water department at a total cost of $21,500.
