After neighborhood opposition, the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners last week denied a conditional use request that would have allowed a couple to turn an existing house on Pulaski Road into a personal-care group home for adults with developmental disabilities.

The application letter from Raheem and Tameka Pontiflet to the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission, or P and Z Board, stated that the proposed home would serve a maximum of four such residents. Their “24/7 care and supervision” would have been provided by Gateway Support Services, which the Pontiflets own, they said in the letter.

“These services, often referred to as ‘group home’ services, are designed to support adults aged 21 and older with developmental disabilities in a safe, structured, and home-like environment,” the Pontiflets stated in writing.

Also explained in the letter, the residents would not have been wards of the state, but adults who chose the living arraignment for themselves as part of an “individualized support plan.”

The Pontiflets purchased the 1,700-square-foot, brick exterior house on a three-acre lot at 7433 Pulaski Road on May 2, according to a Bulloch County Board of Tax Assessors record. It shows the house as having four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property is zoned AG-5 agricultural, which is the county’s default zoning in most areas, but a “family personal care home” can be allowed as a conditional use in AG-5, subject to approval by the elected Board of Commissioners.

Parking & rec space

Pulaski Road is a paved road, and the applicants proposed adding a paved parking area in front  of the house and a 250-square-foot “outdoor space” or recreation area with a picnic table, chairs and bench swing in back to meet personal care home requirements. Images of these were added to real photographs of the house and yard for simulated views in the county staff report.

“This is an image generated,” said Planning and Development Director James Pope, showing the commissioners the front view. “The parking lot is not currently in this form, but this is a representation of how they anticipate meeting  the requirements.”

County staff had recommended approval, with three conditions:  1. that the owners install a fire sprinkler system as required by the Bulloch County Fire Department for a facility housing four or more non-related residents at  one time, 2. that the designed outdoor space be fenced and also meet the minimum square-footage requirement based on the number of residents, and 3. that Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access be provided from the home to the recreation area.

The county staff report, completed or reviewed by Pope, County Engineer Ron Nelson, BCFD Fire Prevention Chief Joe Carter and Development Services Manager Mary DeLoach, showed “yes” checked to all seven conditional use standards, indicating these were met.

But when the appointed P and Z Board held its hearing on the conditional use request Nov. 18, three county residents spoke in opposition, according to the county’s report. “Nearby property owners addressed concerns regarding potential safety issues, the traffic impact, the proposed parking area, renovation possibilities, and potential decrease in property values,” the report stated.

The P and Z Board then voted 4-0 to recommend denial of the conditional use request.

Pontiflets’ rationale

When the request came to the Board of Commissioners during the Tuesday evening, Dec. 2 regular meeting, Chairman David Bennett opened a hearing. He initially allowed 10 minutes, total, to each side.

Raheem Pontiflet first spoke for the proposal.

“Bulloch County has a documented shortage of small personal care homes for elderly adults with disabilities, especially in the rural areas,” he said. “Too many local residents need supervised care they simply can’t find based here at home in Statesboro.”

Pontiflet said this was not his opinion but a fact confirmed by information from the Georgia Department of Community Health. He didn’t  provide any statistics on this during his comments, but asserted that local residents have to go to other cities such as Savannah or Augusta or to crowded emergency rooms.

“Tameka and I moved here from Florida to Statesboro to help meet this need,” he said. “This move was intentional; we came here with a purpose to support vulnerable adults who already live in this community.”

Referring to the county staff recommendation, Pontiflet said, “This means that planning staff, zoning staff, review staff … determined that our home is appropriate, compliant and safe for Pulaski Road.”

He also stated that an existing personal care home, Southern Comfort, had operated on Pulaski Road since 2019. But one of the opposition speakers later said that Southern Comfort is closed.

Opposition speakers

Four people – Evelyn Wilson, Marsha McMillan, Allene A. Nevil and Lisa Whitlock – signed up to speak against the Pontiflets’ request.

Wilson noted that she and her husband have lived at their Pulaski Road address for 55 years, since 1971, and said their property is about 200 feet from the applicants’.

“This has always been a quiet, rural neighborhood,” Wilson said, and contrasted the fact that the Wilsons and other neighbors are “long-term, permanent residents,” to the Pontiflets’ having purchased the property intended as a personal care home “seven months ago.”

“Will this become a revolving door, for people coming and going, for staff …?” Wilson said, and also asked if residents would actually come  from Bulloch County or “from other places.”

“A personal care home is not a fit for our neighborhood…,” she continued. “It would not bring any benefit. It would completely change our neighborhood. It would depreciate surrounding properties.”

Other opposition speakers, such as McMillan, who said the site bordered her land on one side and her sister’s and mother’s on other sides, expressed similar misgivings.

“They’re all here tonight as well as many neighbors supporting us,” McMillan said.

She noted that at the previous meeting she had given the board a petition with 126 signatures, including 52 online signatures from Change.org, opposing the conditional use. She noted that the county’s comprehensive plan identifies the neighborhood as part of a “natural, open space character  area” and read that part of the intent is to preserve areas where residents can enjoy nature.

Earlier, after Raheem Pontiflet had spoken for 10 minutes, Bennett had told him that the “for the request” side’s time was used up. After the four opposition speakers each spoke briefly, he told them their time was up. But one other person had signed up, and Bennett said he would allow each side a couple more minutes.

Another in favor

That one other person was Shawn Jackson, who spoke in favor of the project. Parent of a special needs child, Jackson said, “There are not enough resources in Bulloch County for vulnerable adults, not for teens becoming adults, not for elderly adults aging alone, not for anyone who needs supervised care but doesn’t fit into a big nursing home.”

But about a dozen people stood up when one of the opposition speakers, offered additional time, asked those who were there in opposition to stand.

Commissioner Nick Newkirk made the motion to deny the conditional use, and Commissioner Toby Conner seconded the motion. It passed 5-0, with Commissioner Timmy Rushing absent.