At the first meeting in July, the East Ridge City Council made several decisions in response to citizen requests for variances to existing ordinances.
Those included a petition from Michael Zhang to rezone property located at 1010 Kingwood Dr. from R-1 Residential District t C-2 General Commercial, in order to use the single-family structure as both a short-term vacation rental and to operate a real estate office there when the owner is in town.
The city’s planning commission had recommended denial of the request but the council has the final say. Michael Howell, the city’s chief building official, told the council that among other reasons, it would introduce a change that is not compatible with adjacent properties and is out of character to the neighborhood. And, it reverses the attempt of the council to prevent the gradual erosion of neighborhoods by setting a precedent. The council agreed with the recommendation from the planning commission and voted unanimously to deny the request.
The request for a sign variance for the Arby’s restaurant at 6302 Ringgold Road was due to a slight change to the logo and the conversion from neon to LED lighting. The sign is in two parts; the Arby’s logo hat placed above a message sign. Both are mounted on a pair of poles. The logo has been updated and the height reduced by one foot which lead to the change. The existing sign is no longer in compliance with the city’s sign ordinance so if the variance is not granted, the entire sign would be required to be replaced with a monument sign that is the new standard. And that could block the driver’s line of sight while exiting the restaurant. The variance passed with a vote of three in favor and one opposed, for giving the variance.
On April 1, a notice of repair and clean-up demolition citation was given to property owner Brenda Locklear for a house located at 3714 Sullivan Ave. Because the owner did not comply with the notice or the order to clean the property, the city can be directed to do the clean-up of the exterior of the property.
At the council meeting the board heard an appeal from the homeowner. The council had the option of reaffirming the order from the housing commission, overturning it or modifying the order. Torrey Holder, the city’s residential building inspector, said the issues first occurred in January 2023 with the accumulation of things in the yard and the city worked with the owner to reach compliance. It was fine for while then came back on the city’s radar in April this year, for the same issues of open storage in the back and side yards.
The homeowners moved a lot of the items behind a fence in the back yard but the city still considers household items that customarily belong indoors such as clothing, when stored outside, to be “open storage” and a violation of the ordinance.
Trey Locklear said he is a handyman who gets by from repairing things, and said that what the inspector has seen in his yard are materials and tools for fixing things. He agreed that he had too much stuff. City Attorney Mark Litchford suggested cleaning up the garage and moving the items inside there. The council voted to affirm the decision of the housing commission and to give the couple 20 calendar days to remediate the problems. I it is not cleaned up on day 21, the city will clean it up and a lien will be put on the property. Then the owners will be responsible for the cost.
The council heard requests from several long-time homeowners in East Ridge, for the city to help with flooding that has become worse and more frequent. A homeowner on Brookwood Trail told the council that during a recent storm she had damage to her house and rising water totaled her car resulting in $100,000 of damage with the single event. The city was asked to maintain the overgrowth in a drainage ditch that stopped up, causing the yard to flood. Another resident on the same road had $15,000 of damage from the same storm.
City Manager Scott Miller said that the city has easements but does not own the drainage ditches and that homeowners are responsible for their upkeep because they are considered to be private property. He said the storm that was so destructive, dropped so much rain in two and a half to three and a half hours that was unprecedented. Even where the city has installed new 18-inch drainage pipes on Ringgold Road, the system could not handle that amount of water. Going back to 2012, said Mr. Miller, the city has not gone onto private property to maintain ditches.
Resolutions were passed to purchase several pieces of large equipment used by the parks and recreation department that all are budgeted items. A new John Deere Gator will be bought for $11,750, to replace an older one. Gators are used for field prep and dragging the fields as well as for trash removal during tournaments, and on drack and canoe launches where it is not feasible to use trucks.
A 72-inch Briggs and Stratton mower will be bought to replace an old one with many hours that is used every day. The mower will cost $16,369 through the Buyboard Cooperative purchasing agreement.
And a Massey Ferguson Compact Utility Tractor will be purchased for $12,100 to replace the current one that is 28 years old with 17,000 hours.