Archived story
As originally published
Stephens County commissioners listed a lot-size variance request for 39 Collier Road in Toccoa on their Feb. 10 agenda, putting a proposed exception to residential lot-size rules before the county’s governing board. The agenda shows the matter was scheduled for consideration, but it does not record a vote, approval, denial or other final action.
The decision matters because it concerns whether two smaller tracts can be created in an area identified as Residential Single. The request seeks relief from a one-acre minimum: one tract would be 0.55 acres and the other 0.39 acres. A variance would apply to this property rather than rewrite the countywide lot-size standard, but it would determine what may proceed at the Collier Road site.
The request first appeared on the Planning Commission’s Jan. 6 agenda, where it was framed as a proposal to create a 0.55-acre tract through a variance from the one-acre minimum. Minutes from that meeting confirm the request was before the commission, though the text provided with those minutes does not state a decision. Commissioners then scheduled their own consideration on Jan. 27, moving the same land-use question into a second county proceeding.
Gunby Communications Inc. is identified with the request for the 39 Collier Road property. Its sought-after outcome is specific: permission for two tracts below the usual one-acre threshold. The Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners have distinct public roles in the review, with the commission handling the request on its agenda and the board later taking it up. The records summarized here do not include public comments, an opposing party’s position or a detailed explanation from the applicant for the requested lot sizes.
What is established is that the proposal reached both bodies’ agendas and was again listed by the Planning Commission on Feb. 3 and by commissioners on Feb. 10. What is not established by those agenda entries is a completed variance or any construction, subdivision, sale or other implementation at the property. The supplied Planning Commission minutes document discussion of the request, but do not state whether that meeting produced an approval, denial or recommendation.
The next concrete public step is the release or identification of Board of Commissioners minutes, a vote record or another official action document for the Feb. 10 agenda item. Until that record appears, residents cannot tell from the agendas alone whether the requested variances were granted, rejected, postponed or altered. The key unresolved question is whether Stephens County authorized the two proposed sub-one-acre lots at 39 Collier Road.