Toccoa homeowner’s bid to keep two homes on one lot still lacks final county ruling

Charlene Merritt’s request to keep a second principal use at 10 Spanish Moss Drive in Toccoa remains unresolved in the published county record, even after it returned to the Stephens County Board of Commissioners for a Feb. 10 land-use hearing. The agenda listed the Planning Commission’s recommendation to approve a variance for parcel 059 047, but it does not say whether commissioners approved, denied or postponed the request.

The decision would determine whether Merritt may maintain two principal residential uses on a 0.9-acre lot zoned Residential Single, where county materials describe a two-acre threshold for the requested arrangement. Planning materials frame the issue as replacement housing: a manufactured home on the property burned, and Merritt seeks to remove it and install a new manufactured home that would not fit within the old home’s footprint.

The matter first appeared for Planning Commission consideration on Jan. 6 as a variance request for a second principal use on a lot smaller than two acres. Commissioners then scheduled a Jan. 27 public hearing, placing the proposal on the county board’s land-use track. On Feb. 3, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the variance request; that recommendation was then included when the Board of Commissioners listed the matter again on its Feb. 10 agenda.

Merritt is seeking the variance to replace the burned manufactured home, according to the account recorded with the Feb. 10 Board of Commissioners agenda. The Planning Commission supported that request unanimously. County planners and commissioners, meanwhile, must apply the Residential Single rules and decide whether the sub-two-acre parcel warrants an exception. The materials identify the applicant and the planning recommendation, but do not record any organized opposition or a detailed rationale from commissioners.

Several steps are documented, but they are not the same as final authorization. Merritt’s variance request was proposed, the Planning Commission approved it, and the Board of Commissioners scheduled and later agendized land-use consideration. The Planning Commission recommendation does not establish a commissioners’ decision. Nor do the agendas establish that a replacement home was installed, that the burned home was removed, or that the application was amended or withdrawn.

The next public confirmation would be a Board of Commissioners official action showing a recorded vote, final resolution or other conclusive disposition of the variance at 10 Spanish Moss Drive. Until that occurs, residents cannot tell from the published agendas whether the county authorized the second principal structure, rejected the request, deferred it, or required changes to the proposal.