Homer OKs rezoning former fire station

The company’s chief financial officer John Mancin was the only person in the audience who spoke during the hearing. He said the company has to expand or face relocation. Building a storage space at its existing location at 104 Turk Street was not possible, he added.
“If we are unable to get this location, we will be forced to look somewhere else,” Mancin said. “That probably means we will move the entire organization (outside Banks County).”

He promoted the company as a valuable asset to the community with seven full-time employees and an estimated tax impact to the county around $25,000-30,000 a year.

Pest Control Installation will use the building to store and distribute dry goods, supplies and tools used for installing the company’s pesticide products, Mancin said, explaining that the items received and shipped to and from the location will not include chemicals. The pesticide products themselves are manufactured and handled in various warehouses throughout the US, he said.


Traffic increases will include a single large truck delivery every two weeks and a daily UPS visit, according to the business’s rezoning application.

Most of the council members’ questions about the rezoning were unrelated to Pest Control Installation and its proposed addition.

Councilman Clifton Hill expressed concern about where city items and equipment housed at the vacant building would be relocated. Also the city’s fire chief, Hill reported the city’s fireworks supply was housed at the former fire station. Public works equipment is also kept or parked there, he said.

“I think it would be more feasible for the city to use it than the rent we’d get out of it,” Hill said.

Councilman Chris Tucker asked how usurping the planning and zoning board and its problem with “spot” zoning would cause the city legal problems in the future. He also asked when and how the city examined the idea of renting the station.

“Have we disused the actual renting of it in detail? I’m trying to weigh the options of the value to the city versus renting the building,” Tucker said. “Obviously that may be putting the cart before the horse again, but I think it’s a factor in this decision we make?”
Cheek answered as though the question was related to a specific value designated for the building’s rent.

“What, the last I was hearing was $200-350 a month, that’s $3,000 a year, monies that can be spent in the town,” Cheek said, apologizing when he understood Tucker’s question as being general.

“I had not heard anything,” Tucker said.

City attorney Lee Hicks addressed the planning and zoning board’s two reasons for denying the request — sewage regulations and spot zoning.

He said any sewage concerns should be regulated through laws and ordinances rather than a zoning decision. He further advised that Pest Control Installation stipulate to obeying the rules in any rental agreement.

As far as the “spot” zoning concern, the term is one that could be applied to numerous applicants, especially those seeking to use the city’s Historic Homer Highway property in question.

That is because its current zoning as “institutional” — for a government, public or semi-public building — is inconsistent with the surrounding areas and would be with most rezoning requests.

To calm council members main concerns, Mancin promised that Pest Control Installation would follow all rules and regulations involving sewage requirements. He also promised the business would work with the city if it needed to continue using part of the building for storage.

Cheek spoke in favor of the rezoning approval and the property’s rental before the vote. The mayor praised Pest Control Insulation for its economic success and questioned whether the council wanted to surrender the company’s tax income and city’s rental revenue for storage space.

“What do you want to do? Do you want anything to thrive and do well in Homer, or do we want to send our sales tax dollars to another city to have a storage unit for ourselves for down the road?” he asked.

Hill made the first motion — to deny the request. Councilman Anthony Sullivan seconded the motion. But the action did not carry as no one else on the council supported the denial.

Then councilwoman Betty Borders offered a motion to approve the rezoning request, which councilmen Jerry Payne and Chris Tucker supported.