Staff members gave Statesboro City Council a new draft of a Temporary Vendors Ordinance that would "grandfather in" some existing vendors, such as Green Man's Corner on South Main Street and Ellis' Open Market on Northside Drive East.

However, during the hearing that was part of Tuesday morning's regular meeting, some council members continued to question the need for the new rules. In early June, the mayor and council members had instructed city employees to stop enforcing permitting requirements on temporary vendors until an ordinance can be enacted.

The latest draft, presented by Planning and Development Director Mandi Cody, includes a "nonconforming vendors and uses" clause. This would allow any temporary business that has been in operation "at a consistent location" for the last 12 months to "continue in the same form and fashion" without complying with new requirements.

"That is very similar in nature to the nonconforming clauses in our Zoning Ordinance and would be respectful of those folks who spoke last time about having an ongoing, long-term establishment on a temporary basis in our city," Cody said.

Under the draft, an exempt business could reopen within one year of discontinuing and keep its exemption. Mayor Jan Moore suggested that the council consider a shorter period and mentioned four, eight or 12 weeks as possibilities.

'Long, long' temporary

City Attorney Alvin Leaphart questioned whether the businesses that would be exempt should even be referred to as temporary businesses.

"It seems to me that the people who have been somewhere, at the same place, for a long, long time doing the same thing aren't temporary," Leaphart said.

He asked whether a zoning exemption might be possible for these as permanent businesses instead.

Councilman Will Britt said he could accept the ordinance draft with the exemption if it were a first step toward a different kind of regulation.

"But we haven't fixed it," Britt said. "We haven't fixed it because we're telling somebody that they can do this, that you don't have to build buildings, you don't have to put in plumbing, you don't have to have fire marshal inspections, you don't have to have ingress and egress, you don't have to deal with all the other building permits."

City code enforcement officers and permanent businesses deal with these issues "every single day," Britt said.

He referred to the clause as an exemption for perhaps five existing vendors.

Ellis' suggestion

Stephanie Ellis operates her flea market, Ellis' Open Market, only on Saturdays, renting people spaces to sell household items. She gave council members printed copies of her own suggestions for changes to the ordinance. These included a "regular vendor" category for businesses operated for limited times from a tent, a vehicle or in the open air but on a more regular basis.

"It's not a two-day tent sale to buy back textbooks, but it's also not a seven-day-a-week, brick-and-mortar business," Ellis said. "It's somewhere in between."

Her suggestion was to limit these "regular" businesses to 90 days per year, with a $20 monthly permit fee. Ellis' fees would then be at most $200 a year, versus the $1,575 she would have to pay if the $35-a-day temporary permit fee now in the city's schedule were enforced and she operated 45 Saturdays.

So far, the city has had a fee but no actual rules for these businesses.

Councilman Phil Boyum said he sees Ellis' business as very much like the Mainstreet Farmers Market. The draft ordinance would exempt the farmers market because it operates under a government agency, the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority.

"I mean, if we're going to operate something that is once a week from February to November, tents in the parking lot kind of business, I don't see how we, if we level the playing field, don't allow other people to do that," Boyum said.

Councilman Gary Lewis questioned the effort to regulate businesses such as Ellis' market.

"What is it going to cost the city for these people to go ahead and operate like they're doing?" Lewis said. "What are we losing?"

Cody said staff members asked for regulations of temporary businesses because the city wants to treat all businesses fairly. Interim City Manager Robert Cheshire noted that the city hears complaints from permanent businesses about temporary businesses operating near them.

Smyrna or Uvalda?

Britt observed differences among Georgia cities in regulating stands and flea markets.

"If you drive through Smyrna, Georgia, John's Creek, Georgia, you don't see a lot of corner lots with little popup tents," Britt said. "If you drive through Uvalda or Reidsville, you do. That shows you a little bit about the cities. Which one are we?"

"I hope neither one of those you named," Lewis quipped.

Smyrna and John's Creek are fast-growing Atlanta suburbs. Reidsville and Uvalda are South Georgia towns that, if combined, would have about one-tenth as many people as Statesboro.

Britt said his point was that a city's progressiveness can be defined by the way it handles such issues. Moore agreed, saying that those business owners who are exempted will have "lucked out," but future businesses will have to comply.

"That's been my point all along," she said, "which is why you go with grandfathering and nonconforming, so that you can move on, so that you can say we've got people that are never going to fit the ordinance but have been doing business here forever. We agree we need to move on, we agree we need to be more progressive, we agree we don't want tent cities up and down our streets selling whatever, whenever, however."

Moore asked that council be ready to act in the next two to four weeks. Members are to submit suggestions for the ordinance to Cheshire.

Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.