Council Has First Meeting With Housing Study Advisory Group
Business, Community, Lifestyle September 6, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council had its first meeting with KB Advisory Group to kick off the housing study and begin outlining what the study will encompass.
The council voted to approve KB Advisory Group for the housing study at the Aug. 15 special call meeting. To review that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/08/16/first-distilled-liquor-license-approved-by-city/. The housing review has been one of the top issues the council members had on their to-do lists while they were in office.
The steps of the study are outlined in the presentation.
The study has six tasks that will be completed over the next 16 weeks. The first task is housing study and demand assessment which means that over the next few weeks the group will be reviewing all available data for the City of Dahlonega and Lumpkin County. Their starting point for the data will come from the census, to view that information visit https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dahlonegacitygeorgia.
The second task is a qualitative assessment of local housing preferences. This is where members of the group will interview local stakeholders in the city and also begin hosting public meetings. The council will provide a list of the potential stakeholders that KB should meet.
The potential date for a public open house is Oct. 17 at 6:00 p.m. this date however is not set in stone and more information will be coming out on the public open house. When it does take place the council intends to use the community room at the park and rec to allow more room for the graphs and charts KB will be providing. This will be an opportunity for the community to meet with KB and give their input on what they view as housing needs in Dahlonega.
The third step in the study is comparing regional cities analysis. This step will take a look at cities with similar demographics, tourism, college involvement, and topography to compare with Dahlonega. Council members gave suggestions such as Blue Ridge, Statesboro, Milledgeville, and Carrolington that they thought would be good areas to compare with. KB will take those suggestions and review them and they could use them or potentially other cities for the comparison.
The fourth step is to analyze the housing gap in Dahlonega. This step is to identify where the supply and demand needs are for the city. This will point in a direction for where the next step needs to go.
The fifth step is to align the current policy to the housing needs. In this step, the group will review some of the zoning policies already in place. They will however not be rewriting those policies just making suggestions to the council based on what the study reveals and what is in place.
The final step in the process is for KB Advisory Group to present its findings to the council. The council will then take the findings and decide what steps they need to take to move forward to address the housing needs in Dahlonega.
One issue that was brought up during the meeting was how the topography would affect the study. The representatives for KB did not know that the housing study would be able to solve the issues created with that but that it would be kept in mind throughout the process.
Heard in the clip above is President of KB Advisory Group Geoff Koski explaining that they understand how to tackle this task. Koski was also joined by Director of Real Estate/Urban Planning Consultant Tate Davis at the meeting.
“I think that one of the keys needs to be what we want to become as a city,” questioned Councilmember Ross Shirley.
The timeline for the 16-week study.
To review the presentation that Koski and Davis made to the council visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-17caeeeb7a394bb08e55532e7b612ce6.pdf. More information about KB Advisory Group can be found at https://www.kbagroup.com/. This was just the first meeting for the 16-week-long study, there will be many more and opportunities for the community to have a say in the process.
First Distilled Liquor License Approved by City
Business, Community, Lifestyle August 16, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council approved the first city license for the sale of distilled liquor after the lottery drawing that took place last week.
The council also approved the fiscal year 2023 budget presented by Finance Director Allison Martin. Martin also reviewed the tax digest and millage rate that the council approved. With a 5 to 1 vote the council also approved going forward with the housing assessment.
Sonika Ahluwalia while receiving congratulations from the council.
Gold Rush Spirits LLC run by Sonika Ahluwalia is the first city-issued license for the sale of distilled spirits and liquor in the City of Dahlonega. Ahluwalia still needs the state license to officially operate the business.
Her location for the liquor store will be at 19 Choice Avenue. She plans to open sometime in November before the Christmas crowds begin to gather.
“I wanna say congratulations and looking forward to having you as a business in our community, wishing you the best of luck,” congratulated Councilmember Ron Larson.
The council also approved the fy23 budget. Martin and her staff have been working on this for months to try and balance the budget with the current inflation conditions. She did balance it with both the revenues and expenditures totaling $5,083,868.
The beginning fund balance for fy23 is $2,938,757. In order to balance a portion of the fund balance may need to be used. The city has also received its most recent APRA fund allocation for projects. To look at the full breakdown of the budget please visit https://dahlonega.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Budget-Documents-1.pdf.
Finance Director Allison Martin while presenting the budget and millage rate to the council.
The millage rate that the city approved is 4.558 mills. The net tax levy at that millage rate is $1,135,758. This is a 0.82% decrease over the previous year’s millage rate of 5.508 mills.
This rollback will have a minimal effect on the taxpayers. Martin felt that with the uncertain times and the possibility of a recession rolling back any more than the 100% they currently are would not be possible at this time.
Heard in the clip above is councilmember Johnny Ariemma congratulating staff on their work on the budget. Also heard is Martin explaining the hard work her team puts into the budget.
At the July 18 work session, Mayor JoAnne Taylor brought the council a proposed housing study. To view the full discussion visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/07/19/city-discuss-housing-study/.
The council approved 5 to 1 to move forward with the full study. Councilmember Ross Shirley voted against moving forward because he felt the study was too broad and needed to be focused on one or two key steps. Once complete the council will then take further action based on the results of the study.
City Discuss Housing Study
Business, Community July 19, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council continued discussions regarding undertaking a housing study to address the community’s growing needs.
Council members also spoke about what they learned at the Georgia Municipal Association or GMA conference they attended in Savannah. Mayor JoAnne Taylor gave an update on how the negotiations with the county are going for the local option sales tax agreement.
One of Mayor Taylor’s goals when taking office had to do what addressing the community’s growing needs. To help with that goal the council has begun looking into a housing study. They currently have an offer from KB Advisory Group to do a city-wide assessment.
KB has identified six tasks to focus on during the study. Those tasks include supply and demand analysis, assessment of local preferences, comparing Dahlonega to surrounding cities, housing gap analysis, aligning current policy to housing needs, and a final report.
The Mayor also would like for them to take a look at the professional housing need, short-term rentals, workforce, and affordable single-family housing. The lump sum cost for KB to do all six of the task outline is $45,500.
Heard in the clip above is Councilmember Roman Gaddis commenting on his views on the task and what needs to happen with the study once complete. The council did not take action on accepting the proposal for the study at this meeting, they will take action at the Aug. 1 council meeting.
There were some concerns expressed about how the university is affecting the housing problems within the city and also an example of using the city of Gainseville for the comparison. To review the entire proposal visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-3237c9bdd01a4fa39c5cb55e1319f946.pdf, the documents begin on page 22.
The City Council recently attended the GMA conference in Savannah, Ga., and the Mayor asked them to present what they learned while attending. The conference is an annual conference and hosts sessions and training classes for elected officials to attend, there is also a trade show that features products and other services to help improve operations in cities.
Councilmembers Lance Bagley, Ross Shirley, and Ryan Reagin were all first-timers to the conference. Their takeaways were the number of people they were able to communicate with and how informative the classes were.
“The first thing I learned was a healthy appreciation for the amount of support out there to help us succeed,” explained Bagley.
Councilmembers Ron Larson and Johnny Ariemma also took some informative classes such as an annexation class. During this class, Airemma learned how difficult the process of annexation is.
Mayor Taylor gave a presentation on literacy. She spoke about the programs Lumpkin has to offer for literacy and piqued the interest of other representatives. Taylor and Ariemma were also present for Larson receiving a certificate of excellence for his 120 hours of training completed.
The update Taylor gave on the negotiations for the local option sales tax is that the county would like to remain at the current 75% for the county and 25% for the city. However, Taylor is hopeful that she can still sway the commissioners. They have until Dec. 31 to reach an agreement.
City Attorney Doug Parks reminded the council that the deadline for the package store license is July 25. To review the ordinance visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/05/17/council-approves-distilled-package-store-ordinances/.
The Mayor also spoke about the rising numbers of COVID cases in Lumpkin county. In addition, she also wanted to add to the permit for the walking tours to include that there would be no tours allowed when there was an active burial taking place, the council agreed to the addition.