Proposed changes to zoning
There was awkward silence as GCSU students filed into the room on the second floor of City Hall for the Sept. 12, city council meeting. Despite weak attendance from students at previous meetings, there was no shortage at this meeting, causing some raised eyebrows and hushed whispers from the many of the long-term residents of Milledgeville in attendance.
Their main concern at the meeting was the discussion of a new ordinance that would limit the number of non-family members living in single-family housing. If the ordinance were passed, students would no longer be able to live in a majority of historical district residences, or, in clearer terms, most of the apartments that are within walking distance of GCSU. The students’ main objective for the meeting was to discuss getting a five-year extension before city council enforce the ordinance in order to at least give students time to find other housing and not immediately be forced to move out of their apartments. The meeting only allowed for the reading of the new ordinance but the students were able to talk to some of the council members after adjournment about their concerns with the ordinance.
The majority of students that attended the meeting are members of a new club at GCSU, called the Student Political Movement.
“We are here to represent the students,” said senior Will Thompson, creator and leader of the organization. “There are about 5,400 students at GCSU, when you add in GMC students, that is a significant amount of the population that will be affected; students need to be concerned; they need to realize they can do something about this.”
Steve Chambers, member of the Milledgeville City Council, said that the council is not acting against students. “We’re not anti-student,” Chambers said. “We’re pro-quality of life for students, residents and everybody.”
Chambers went on to say that the ordinance itself is not against students; however, it was probably started by complaints about students’ actions. Also, the ordinance will help protect parts of the downtown area from being turned into apartments.
Another concern of the council was keeping down the number of out-of-town renters who might not be concerned with the appearance of the property.
Getting students involved in local government is one of the main purposes of the Student Political Movement. The club that began as a Facebook group called “Isn’t It Ironic?” is now an established student organization that is getting larger every day.
“Right now we are working on a website where people can have forums to discuss things and be able to gather information,” Thompson said. “Until that happens we are just using the Facebook group. We have a good 500 people that we send information to about once every two weeks about what is going on.”
The new website will be at www.millyvegas.
com and is still under construction, but there is already some information up about the single-family housing ordinance as well as a re-zoning issue that took place last spring semester. The main communication for the organization is currently the “Isn’t It Ironic?” group on Facebook, where students can read more about issues and meetings and post messages concerning issues they might have with the local government.
Thompson further describes the purpose of the organization on the Facebook group site.
“This group is not a zealot group out to try to change Milledgeville through non-respectable measures,” Thompson said. “We hope to facilitate a positive bond between the Milledgeville and Baldwin County governments and the student population, so as to ensure that students can feel as if they are a part of this community.”
The next city council meeting will be Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall.
Information contributed by Kyle Dominy
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 22 2006. Filed under News.
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