Toccoa City Commission Approves Amendment to Zoning Ordinance

The Toccoa City Commission approved an amendment to a zoning ordinance yesterday during their regularly scheduled meeting.

This amendment restricts the use of ground floor residential living on a commercial store front in the historic district.

The Toccoa Planning Commission and the Downtown Development Authority reviewed the amendment and both recommended approval.

Toccoa Planning Director Connie Tabor said that this amendment is specifically designed to restrict residential use on the ground floor of the buildings except in the rear.

“We’re wanting to change it so that it wouldn’t be allowed in the ground floor except in the rear,” said Tabor. “It would still be allowed upstairs, downstairs, in the basement or 40 percent on the ground floor space. We just would ask that the front of it- the first 60 feet- would be dedicated to either office, commercial or professional.”

Tabor said that this amendment will allow the city to maintain the original purpose of these buildings.

“Those buildings were originally built to house businesses in them,” she said. “Residents would live upstairs. They would operate a business, originally that’s the way they worked. They would have the business on the ground floor and the residents would live upstairs.”
According to Tabor, this amendment will help the city maintain a viable commercial business district.